Wonder Man: Season 1

When it comes to comic books, if there is one thing I enjoy, it's being proven wrong. I was extremely skepitcal when this show was announced. Wonder Man on his best day is a D-List Marvel character. I don't care what anyone says. Yes, he's shown up in Avengers, but I was not an Avengers fan pre-2003. I felt like this was Marvel, once again scrambling with their own IP. There was no way this show would be any good.

I was wrong. This show is a breath of fresh air. Instead of something flashy full of stupid special effects on a TV show budget with mind numbingly dull action, this is a character story first and foremost. You also don't have to have watched many other Marvel properties. As loathe as I am to say it, I would argue that watching Iron Man 3 is a good pre-requisite to this show. Also Shang-Chi. I'll explain why later on.

I know comic fans were angrily typing away on their sad, overcomensating keyboards when Simon Williams was cast as a Black man, instead of a white man as he appears in the comics. If there's one thing they hate besides strong female leads, it's race swapping. I said before that Wonder Man is a D-List character, so if nothing else, now he can have an actual personality because by being a Black man, his struggles in life are amplified.

One thing I specifically like is when actors play actors and have to act like they don't know how to act. Simon's whole story is trying to become an actor because it is that art that fills his cup up. That's buoyed by the secret he has and why he always has to keep his emotions in check. (Welcome to the life of a Black person). I don't know what it's like to be an actor, but the way they portray it here, I feel like I have a clear picture. The story revolves around his love of an old movie, also called "Wonder Man". There is a remake being made and he feels his whole life has lead to this. The love and care this show takes on that aspect of Hollywood is evident everywhere in this series.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is fantastic as Simon Williams. You see the full range of his struggles with his career and within his own family. Side note, I love that they added the personal detail that Simon is the child of Haitian immigrants. That gives him more depth, because he always felt like an outsider except when he's with his family, for the most part. 

Remember when I talked about Iron Man 3 up above? I only bring it up because that's where you're introduced to "The Mandarin", played by the character Trevor Slattery, played by Ben Kingsley. They reference his role as "The Mandarin" a lot and it is the other parallel plot running through the show. Slattery also showed up in Shang-Chi. Iron Man 3 is a terrible movie, but I am glad that they have spun gold out of their use of Ben Kingsley and they keep finding ways to bring him back. 

The core of this show is about the friendship between Simon and Trevor and it is truly heart of this show. I found myself just enjoying minutes upon minutes of them just talking and interacting. I was transfixed. Trevor finds a mentee and helps Simon open up and be a better actor. Simon finds a mentor that pours into him the way that no one else has. Their friendship felt authentic, even if it started under false pretenses. Both characters grow by knowing each other.

Here's a quick spoiler. You've been warned.

Unlike other Marvel shows, there is no big bad to fight. There's no super hero battles. Hell, there really aren't any fight scenes. This show remains tightly focused on the dual goals of Simon and Trevor. I'm being deliberately vague because I don't want to spoil everything. They do slip in a deep cut origin of what will potentially be a super villain. They took time out to dedicate a whole episode to it and it was all in black and white, a huge stylistic swing in a show like this.

This is the kind of show you get when Marvel just leaves the creators be without interfering. You get a cohesive show that doesn't rely on 40 movies and 20 series as requisite viewing. You feel this was a passion project for the creators.

Now, I'm going to pivot to what pissed me off. It is not aimed at this show. It's aimed at Marvel itself. They just slid out all 8 episodes in the cover of night. I barely saw any advertising for this show. It's hard for me to not think, "I bet if this was a show around a white lead, they'd promote the hell out of it." I felt the same about Ironheart last year. No runway to build up anticipation. Just a trailer and then months later, it arrives. They could have waited a week and premiered it during Black History month. They have left this show out to die and it is one of the best efforts they've put out since they started doing TV shows. It feels like nothing more than some kind of tax write off with how dismissive they've been. 

Simon and Trevor BETTER show up in other shows and get a second season. The way this has panned out, I won't hold my breath. I hope word of mouth, increased ratings, etc. makes Marvel take a hard look at doing more with this show or these characters.

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2025 - Part II

 

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series and whatevers.

In Memoriam

Peter David - I didn't address this when it happened back in May, but we lost writer Peter David this year. He was a stalwart in the industry. When I started reading comics in the early 90's during my formative years, he was at the helm of the Incredible Hulk and X-Factor. His run on Hulk is the very reason that the smart Hulk is my favorite version. He did numerous other titles throughout the years and he was a writer that if I saw him on a book, I picked it up. His series, "Spyboy" is an underrated gem and not known well enough. He single handedly made me like the character Madrox (X-Factor member) and that is impressive in itself. I'd seen him at a few cons, but never went over to talk to him and I regret that. His death highlights a very real problem in the comic book industry and how they don't have proper healthcare. You would think companies as big as DC and Marvel at least could take care of their people better. I'll always remember his work fondly. With that being said, if you ever have some money laying around and want to give to a charity, please include The Hero Initiative. 

Favorite Single Issue

Uncanny X-Men #18 (Marvel) - Sometimes when I read comics, I put it down and go, "Man, that was so great." and I feel a sense of calm and joy. And I smile uncontrollably. This issue did that for me. Why? It felt like classic X-Men from the 90's in the best way. The X-Men work together as a team seamlessly, everyone gets a moment to shine and there wasn't an outright bad guy. They were just trying to relax and then do some super hero stuff. The cherry on the top is it was for a celebration of them and for once humans are not hating on them, a long going issue in X-Men. It just felt so refreshing. It also helps that I like this particular team of Xmen. 

Worst Single Issue

Spectacular Spider-Men #11 (Marvel) - I clocked this issue earlier in the year and there was nothing that beat it. What's wrong with this issue? Miles and Peter get shrunk down in Central Park and see this weird fantasy world beneath the grass. I personally HATE shrinking stories. Strike #1. They created a new character in this book named, "Elemental". She can transform into different elements, you see. This is the kind of character that a creater dreams up that will re-appear in a few years as a deep cut cameo that everyone goes, "Who was that?". She featured prominently in this story. Look, I hated this issue, okay?

The I'm older now and this book returned, am I still a fan? of 2025

Powers (Dark Horse) - Powers first came out TWENTY FIVE years ago! I didn't jump on when it first came out, but I did buy back issues, caught up and then followed it across companies from when it was at Image to an imprint at Marvel to now Dark Horse. It was a gritty, Noir-ish detective story involving regular people investigating super hero crimes. It was fresh, the art was unique and the dialogue was snappy. After a nearly decade long hiatus, it came back with the same creative team. I immediately jumped back in, but as I was reading, I was thinking, "Do I still like this?". The art is still good and the writing is still snappy, but at this point in my life I was thinking, "Why is everybody talking so damn much!?" Not everything has to be jokey, but it felt that way. The book does you no favors by catching you up on the huge time jump between series either. I was completely lost and like I said, I READ the previous series. I don't know, I think I might have to drop this book. 

Pleasant Surprise of 2025

Batman/Deadpool, Deadpool/Batman (Marvel/DC) - You read that right, after decades, Marvel and DC are finally crossing over again. Beef between the editorial teams prevented this from happening sooner after the JLA/Avengers event in 2003-2004. I didn't see this coming until I saw the soliciations and was overjoyed at seeing characters from each universe interact with each other. That is with the understanding that crossovers like this always follow a specific set of tropes. The different characters fight over a misunderstanding first. Then team up to fight villains from both companies. Everything is written so carefully so that one does not seem more dominant than the other. Rinse, wash, repeat. It is fun to see which ones will work together. Batman and Deadpool is the headliner, but the undercard is full of fun interactions. I will say this publicly, I like the Deadpool movies and the character sometimes, but he is truly annoying for long stretches.

Best Event of 2025

One World Under Doom (Marvel) - This further solidifies why Doom is the best villain in the Marvel Universe. He's always the hero in his own mind and his ego will never tell him different. Doom as the sorcerer supreme and what those consequences are get laid out in this series, for good and for bad. It feels real in that the world gets divided on his motives and when it's revelaed what he's REALLY done, it's one of those, "But the trains ran on time" scenarios. The Fantastic Four (rightfully so) play center stage here, but at least it doesn't feel like this event was made to tie in with the movie. Also, central to Doom is the love he has for his goddaughter and you see how that plays out.

Honorable Mentions: KO (DC)

Worst Event of 2025
Age of Revelation (Marvel) - Yet another alternate timeline story for the X-Men that wants to chase that Age of Apocalypse dragon, but doesn't get there. Sorry, but Age of Apocalypse is the gold standard and the fact Marvel KEEPS trying to recreate that is a problem in the industry. Also, centering this around Doug Ramsey, the least interesting mutant character ever is another problem. To use wrestling terms, he got a push. My larger problem with this event is they released like 20 mini-series around it. That is too much to try and follow the thread. I was not going to do that because the premise was already uninteresting.

Favorite Mini-series of 2025

Uncle Scrooge: Earth's Mightiest Duck (Marvel) - I'm just as surprised as you are. What is not surprising is that Jason Aaron, who wrote this mini, is a great comic books writer. In one of his other one shots, he had an essay about his love for classic Uncle Scrooge comics and that love clearly comes through in how he writes Scrooge. If this harkens back to those old comics, then I need to go read those old comics. The art is all over the place, but the story is great. It's a clever way to delve into Uncle Scrooge's origin while dealing with an existential threat. I'm being vague because I don't want to give it all away, but basically Scrooge is in a fight for his memories or his fortune. Donald Duck and the nephews show up in this as well. Highly recommend.

Honorable Mentions: Mr. Terrific: Year One (DC), One World Under Doom: Runaways (Marvel)

Worst Mini-Series of 2025

The World To Come (Marvel) - Christoper Priest is a writer I've respected, but he has a very particular style that you have to get used to. This "sequel" to his game changing Black Panther run from 1998 shows all the things I don't like. Also, this event featured a stunt that I'm sure you've all heard about if you follow comics. There was a white Black Panther that was introduced in the first issue that had people in a tizzy. I've been reading comic books too long to get affected by something like this. First, it's in a potential future, so that's not modern day stuff, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't count. The path to explain all of that is confusing, in the Christoper Priest way. The rest of the story, also confusing and while it's nice to see Joe Quesada back on art, that's not enough to make me enjoy this book. 

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite New Series of 2025
Escape (Image) - I almost need to do a separate post about this book. This is an image comic and it is by Rick Remender, so I don't know if this is a limited series or an ongoing. Honestly, the way it is constructed, I don't see how it can go more than 12 issues unless it turns into an anthology. Sometimes when you read comics, you can tell what is a passion project for the creators because there is a level of detail to the story telling that is apparent. This series is gripping and drawn beautifully by Daniel Acuna. The first issue had me on the edge of my seat. It's brutal and for anyone that has ever seen any war movies based on World War II will get the gist. The difference is the story is told using anthropomorphized animals. Highest recommendation.

Honorable Mentions: Ultimate Black Panther (Marvel)

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2025
Weirdo (First Second) - Technically this came out in 2024, but I read it for 2025. Also, this is MY list, so I can do whatever I want! Anyways, this was a heartfelt telling of the early life of Tony Weaver Jr., the black nerd you might have seen on tiktoks, instagram, whatever that has the backwards devil horn hat. It's reductive to say I see a lot of similiarties in him, as a fellow black nerd myself. What spoke to me in his story is the struggle to accept who you are. When I was a kid, being a nerd wasn't cool and I wanted to blend in enough to be left alone. But with my big ol' glasses and 90's flat top, that was difficult. I might as well have had a target on my back. It wasn't till I was well into my adult life that I was at peace with myself. I don't relate to all of his struggles, but I do with most. It was wonderfully drawn and endearing. I highly recommend checking it out. 

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Series of 2025
Batman* (DC) - I need to clarify. This is specifically for the end of the previous volume of Batman written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Jim Lee. It's a sequel to their Hush storyline from (checks calendar) 20 years ago! And this story feels like it is written back then. I will go on record that I didn't think Hush was all that great. It just gave us beautiful Jim Lee art and an excuse for him to draw different DC characters. As a concept Hush always felt really stupid to me. It's the worst parts of retconning within a characters history. 

Honorable Mentions: X-Factor (Marvel)

Favorite Series of 2025
G.I. Joe (Image) - One thing you should know about me. Of all the shows I watched in the 80's as a kid, GI Joe was one I did NOT watch or like. I just didn't care for it then. So I'm not coming to this series with nostalgia in mine. Sure, I'm aware of G.I. Joe, but I wasn't a big enough fan to point out differences. With that being said, this other pillar of the Energon Universe that Image has built has been fantastic. It completely has me in a chokehold. There's this modern take on the Joes and Cobra and it's a series that has kept escalating and escalating. If I had one down side, it's that this is a modern comic book, so it takes five issues to have a single adventure. If you had done five one shot stories in that same amount of time, we'd get to know everyone better. I digress. The art from Tom Reilly has been fantastic, the story has included high stakes. Oh and there has been a sprinkling of Transformers here to add to the tension. This book and Transformers have slowly started to move to the middle and I can't wait for the inevitable crossover. 

Honorable Mentions:  Fantastic Four (Marvel), Saturday Morning Cartoons: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2025 - Part I

 

Life was even more crazy this year, so I consistently stayed behind on my comic book reading. I'm sure BOTH of my comic shops love me, with all the books I don't pick up often enough from my pull box. To go back a second, we finally got a comic book shop here in town, so I don't have to drive 40 minutes out of the way to the one that's been my comic book home since 2003. Out of loyalty, I still have books I pick up over there, but I've split my time between two shops. Also, I need that relationship there because comic books are a hard business to maintain and I need a foothold in a few places.

I also switched to a far superior comic book tracking system that allows me to create a pull list at my local store in town, but also gives me far better metrics for tracking stuff. The site is League of Comic Geeks. This will make this list so much easier to make this year!

Let's show my metrics (that I don't have to excrutiatingly pull from my old site, put into excel and make a graph). Somehow, I read even more this year. I had a couple of stretches of days off where I dedicated myself to just reading. Something I need more of in 2026 to put me in a more consistent happy place.

That official count is: 584. This is what I read that was published in 2025, because I didn't finish reading my books till a few days ago. You'll also see the "Collected" metric. I bought and logged a lot of comics, but I didn't get around to reading them all. Usually this is because I have holes in the run of that title and wanted to wait till I have all of them. I need to mark it off so I don't buy thing twice.

There's also a breakdown by publisher to show what I read.

It's no surprise that I'm team Marvel, but DC has closed the gap. Image is always a strong number three. At this point in my life, I follow creators more than characters for the most part. If I see a writer or artist I like, I at least check it out no matter what company. 

Anways, Without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2025, where I made up a bunch of extra superprelatives for no damn reason!

Dearly Departed (The Comics I dropped this year)
Before I get into the rest of my list, a moment of silence for the number of comics that I dropped this year after giving a good go at it. For the first time, I will give a blurb as to why.

• Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Marvel) - I hate read most of it and he has a lame rogue's gallery. He's got too many powers now.
• Wonder Woman (DC) - I have grown tired of Tom King's long form story telling. It's hard to enjoy 9 part arcs that come out monthly that don't feel like there's movement.
• Wolverine (Marvel) - I grew tired of it. I'm not a huge fan of Martin Cocculo's art.
  
• Action Comics (DC) - I'm glad there's so much Superman stuff thanks to the movies, but this comic has a long form tale of Clark when he's young and I don't want to read ANOTHER origin story. This is that "Fill in the gaps" mentality of comic timelines.
• Power Rangers Prime (Boom Studios) - This had a couple of made up Rangers and while I applaud the creativity, I found it boring. I'm not invested in new Rangers.
• X-Force (Marvel) - I just couldn't anymore with this book. I don't care for Forge and he's leading this team.
• X-Factor (Marvel) - A mutant team based around live streaming culture. New Warriors did this over a decade ago. Amazing I hung on as long as I did.
• Batman and Robin (DC) - This book felt like some YA nonsense in a bad way. I don't know, man. Bruce and Damian are the most boring Batman and Robin. Bruce has already had this father/son dynamic with the three previous Robins. Now that he has an actual son, it's like he forgot how to parent. 

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2025

Fantastic Four (Marvel) - Oh, you thought I was going to say Superman? Fantastic Four and X-Men are 1a and 1b of my favorite comic book properties. So the fact that a Fantastic Four movie came out from Marvel studios and NOT Fox gave me the vapors. Add in a fantastic (see what I did there) cast and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the aesthetic and most of the special effects. It had a low bar to clear and it flew over it. 

Honorable Mentions: Superman, Thunderbolts

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2025
Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel) - I honestly forgot this movie happened this year. That's how forgettable it was and that is saying something because we all at least hold some memories from any Marvel movie we saw. This movie played it way too safe in every way and that is what lead to it's averageness. This movie wasted Carl Lumbly, who could have been a good mentor to Sam Wilson, to have some inane brainwashing plot with a character we haven't seen in 15 years in that one Hulk movie everyone likes to hate.

Honorable Mention: N/A

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2025
Daredevil: Born Again - Despite this show once again showing so little of Daredevil in costume, it was compelling and unflinchingly brutual. Easily the best of the Netflix Marvel series and I'm glad it is back. It felt tonally similar and somehow even darker. At first I didn't love that it ended on a cliffhanger, because I thought this would be it. Then realized, it got another season and this is just the first part of this longer arc. I'm so on board.

Honorable Mentions: Peacemaker - Season 2, Eyes of Wakanda

Worst Comic Book TV show of 2025
If I had actually watched another season of "What If" from Marvel, that would be here. But I never finished season two, let alone season three. In the future, I'm going to fully flesh out my problems with that series. 

Honorable Mention: N/A

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2025
Tie between Absolute Batman and Absolute Superman. These books are good, don't get me wrong. However, they never leave a lasting impact on me. They're not bad, but as we've seen, I read a ton of books and I can't remember everything. These books are also different for the sake of being different in this alternate universe.

The "Oh, why don't I drop you because it would be so easy" of 2025

Ducktales (Dynamite) - I stuck with this book for almost 8 issues. Why? I don't even know. I kept forgeting to drop it and kept buying it. It's never felt right and doesn't feel in the spirit of Ducktales. Everything just felt...off. Now a book you SHOULD read is the Uncle Scrooge mini-series over at Marvel that Jason Aaron is writing. That book respects the source material.

Most Unlikely Crossover of 2025

Archie Meets Jay & Silent Bob (Archie Comics) - In a year where Sonic the Hedgehog met the Justice League, The Ninja Turtles crossed over with Nartuo AND Power Rangers in separate series and everyone in Marvel fighting Godzilla or the Predator, THIS book was the most unlikely pairing of them all. For those that truly know me, Archie Comics has a special place in my heart held by no one else. I also know that they take wild swings that people will often miss. So it is my duty to call this out. It was written by Kevin Smith and what makes it so wild is he doesn't change his characters to fit in with Archie, Archie and his friends have to fit in his world. Jay says all the wild stuff you would expect and Archie remains his wholesome self. That dynamic itself is already funny. On the down side, if you already don't like Jay and Silent Bob, don't buy this book. This will do nothing to change your mind. If you DO love them, pick this up for a good time. 

Favorite New Artist of 2025
Carlos Nieto (Ultimate Black Panther) - He's filled in (or maybe taken over? I don't feel like researching it) for the regular artist, Stefano Caselli the past couple of issues and the drop off in quality wasn't vast. It's been surprisingly good. One of my judges of artists is how do they draw black characters. Do they draw them with comically huge lips and noses? Does the face look right? I think for the post part he passes that test. Nothing has jumped out as egregious. I am curious to see him draw other characters, so here's hoping he gets that chance.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Artist of 2025 
Eddy Barrows - Superman - This guy is a long time pro, but I don't know WHAT is going on. He draws the worst facial expressions I've ever seen. It's jarring. You need to see a few examples below to get what I'm talking about. 

In the case of Eddy Barrows, the eyes have it.

Why does everyone have big eyes? For context, these aren't moments where something should surprise them THIS much. They just look like that. Superwoman (Lois Lane) in that middle section has bug eyes for no reason! I'm glad he has been only on Superman books, so he can't ruin anything else.

Honorable Mentions: 

Favorite Artist of 2025
Dan Mora (Justice League Unlimited, Transformers, Superman, Deadpool/Batman) - The second year in a row for this man. Look, he is EVERYWHERE which as a comic artist is like Jack Kirby levels of output in a single year. I honestly worry about his health because there is no way he can sustain this pace of work. I'll live in the now and say that I love everything that he works on. He's got a clean, cartoony style. I wish Marvel would find some way to get him.

Honorable Mentions: Pepe Larraz (Amazing Spider-Man), Belen Ortega (Trinity

Favorite New Writer (to me) of 2025
Murewa Ayodele (Storm) - I've slowly been reading more of his work and I've enjoyed his work with Storm. I'm glad that there is a writer from Africa that is writing African based characters in the big two because they have the appropriate amount of nuance. There's a lot of independent work out there, but I'm glad to see them get a chance in the big leagues. Storm is being treated with such care and tying to her African roots than you typically see. More importantly, it feels authentic. They had a big push for Storm the past few years and I'm glad. I just hope the book is doing well enough to keep coming out.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2025
Cody Ziggler (Miles Morales: Spider-Man) - I really hate to put this here. This is a black writer that has made it to the big leagues and I couldn't be more proud of him. And he seems like a genuinely nice guy. But the book I struggled to read the most this year was Miles Morales: Spider-Man and he is at the helm of that. He's not all of the problems with that book, but he is the writer so he gets some of the blame. He's already in a tough position. Miles was great in his own universe, but once they folded him into the main Universe, Marvel didn't seem to know what to do with him. He doesn't have his own rogues gallery, he just has Spidey's villains. Ziggler has tried to create new villains for him, but they are just uncompelling. Also, he's added to a power set that has already felt overpowered in relation to other Spider-Characters. Now Miles has an electric sword. For those keeping track at home, he has: cloaking powers, electric blasts (it used to be just a venom sting, but it's evolved past that), an electric sword PLUS all the Spider strength, agility, ability to stick to walls. He also gave Miles a baby sister, which reeks of jumping the shark the likes of what you see in a sitcom. He's created TOO many problems for Miles to encounter. I will give him credit for introducing Miles to therapy, which can reinforce to people of color that therapy is okay. Everything else has just been dull.

Honorable Mentions: N/A. (I can't remember anyone else that should be on this list)

Favorite Writer of 2025
Gail Simone (Uncanny X-Men) - I've always been a huge fan of Gail Simone, but I've especially enjoyed her take on Uncanny X-Men. In part II of my year in review, you'll see that she wrote my favorite single issue of the year. Everyone always wants to introduce new X-Men that will be eventually forgotten, but I've enjoyed the mix of new blood she brought in along side favorites like Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubiliee and Nightcrawler. I'm a long time reader of X-Men, but I have dipped in and out over the years, so I don't think I've ever seen this combination of characters on a team by themselves. I really love the way she handles Rogue and Gambit's relationship and Rogue's role as the leader of this team of X-Men. It has this classic X-Men fill in the best of ways. As I'm thinking about it, there's not much of a conflict within the team and that is astonishingly refreshing. They've known each other for years, there's no valid reason to fight. It's been a fun time and I would recommend checking it out.

Honorable Mentions: Ryan North (Fantastic Four, One World Under Doom), Daniel Warren Johnson (Transformers)

Batman Returns - Retro Review

*Editors note: I wrote this over a year ago and didn't get around to posting it. I'm not editing any of my past tense because what fun would that be. Imagine I posted this in 2024. **

A year or two ago, I tried to convince my wife (and myself), that Batman Returns was a Christmas movie. I insisted we watch it, holding this movie in high regard from my childhood. We never finished it then, but a few weeks ago, we did.

Let me tell you, your childhood can lie to you. Nostalgia is a potent drug. It makes you forget things. Halfway through the movie, all I could think is, "This movie is so damn stupid." Or "I think I hate this movie."

I forgot that maybe a decade ago, I did this same exercise, fooling myself into thinking this was a worthy successor to Batman. It isn't. It's not close. I'm going to get into my reasoning for this. If I were to describe this movie with one word, it'd be bizzare.

After the success of the first movie, it's like Warner Brothers told Tim Burton he could make the movie he really wanted and Burton made this movie like it was going to be the last one of his life. I would argue that THIS movie was the beginning of the downfall that lead to the franchise being shelved for a few years until Christopher Nolan came along. Don't get me wrong, those Schumacer ones are the stuff of legend in how bad they are, but this movie gave us the "Not one, but TWO villains." concept for these damn movies. 

Let me get to my specific dislikes about this movie. First of all, the feel and mood of this movie skews more Burton and less that first Batman movie. He was more restrained in that first one, but this feels like the kind of movie he WANTED To make after earning the studios trust. Maybe this movie lit all that on fire. Is it true? I dunno, but I also don't feel like looking it up either.

All the fight scenes and set pieces are framed in such a goofy way. The first Batman at least tried to stay in the realm of slight believablity. Here, Batman is killing dudes with impunity. Catwoman's strange origin. Carnival clowns are leaping all over the place and he has a bat-vehicle for every situation, as if he's trying to sell toys. (He is.) 

Batman is a lot more chatty and giving one liners now? He was menacing in the first movie, here, he's a brooding goofball. I guess they wanted to let Michael Keaton be Beetlejuice with a different costume. The overarching story with Max Shreck, Penguin and Catwoman is just bonkers. This also started the unfortunate trend of double villains that would continue to doom these movies until Christopher Nolan comes along and decides to do it right.

The architecture of Gotham is coo-coo bananas as well. No sane architect would ever build shit like this. Yes, I know it gets worse in the later movies. My point is, it's starting here. In regards to the villains, in the first movie, Joker was chaotic and just wanted to kill people. Penguin wanted to steal children and do a ham-fisted frame job on Batman. And yes, I know I'm being extremely reductive. Which side note, the fact he was able to turn Gotham against Batman so easily maybe says a little bit about Batman, huh? Catwoman's motivation on the other hand, 100% warranted. She just got drawn in to the Penguin's ridiculous plans. 

Speaking of those two, at their core, Penguin and Catwoman are sympathetic characters, but they dial up their evilness to an 11 and it makes you forget about their tragic backstories.

Now to be fair, there was some good in this movie. I thought the performances from the main actors (Keaton, Pffifer, DeVito, Walken) were really good. It's as if they were like, "This movie is a mess, but I'm going to have fun with my part." They all deserved better. Despite the goofy dialogue he is given, I still feel like Keaton is the best live action Batman. I make this distinction because Kevin Conroy in all the animated and video game adapations is THE definitive Batman. Going back to Keaton, when he's in the Batman costume, just something about his eyes (they tell the story) make him menacing, when his physical stature doesn't. He looks THROUGH people.

If you have fond memories of this movie and you hold it in high regard, take my advice, never watch it again. Hold on to those memories, because this will not hold up to it. It is WEIRD.