Doctor Strange

I'm not going to lie. I ended up seeing this movie twice during the opening weekend. This was because I was seeing it with two sets of friends, but I still went gladly. I was going to write about it sooner, but life got in the way.

So yeah, I liked this movie. On my personal rankings of the Marvel movies, it's definitely somewhere in the middle. That's not a bad thing, you just have to remember that we are about fourteen movies deep now.

Like, Ant-Man, this was a character that felt like having their own movie would be an overreach. Thankfully I think they stick the landing. It perfectly nails the trippy, LSD fueled antics of the comics. This is exactly where it needed to be. The visuals are pretty amazing. However, I still do and will always hate CG "stuntmen". This happens a number of times in this movie and it's so hard for me to ignore it when I see it.

The fight scenes are pretty good, because for some reason, magicians rely on martial arts. I'm not complaining, I just want to point that out. Probably because that's a lot more exciting than watching people throw spells back and forth.

I'll get to the actors in a moment, but I'm going to start with the plot first. This movie moves quickly to establish Dr. Strange. I applaud this. Instead of spending half the movie with his origin, we get through that in about fifteen minutes and then we follow him on, let's say, his spiritual journey. On the flip side, it is way too convenient that he becomes as good as he does so quickly. They don't do a good job with the time lapse to know how quickly he picked things up. This movie does follow Marvel Movie plot #2,evil bad guy wants to control the world for murky reasons.

I want to point out that the problem I've had with the Marvel movies rears it's ugly head again. In their movies, the villains have been one note and essentially throw aways. That is the case here too. To name check it, the villain's name is Kaecillius. All he needed was a mustache to twirl. He's not compelling in any way. The after credits scene does provide a glimpse into what will be a better villain for the next movie.

Okay, so maybe that was a very short plot description. There isn't really much to cover there. So let's go with the actors. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers, as we thought he would. I don't mind his American accent here because it makes it feel like a different character from him. His trademark deep voice is even noticeably gone. Which is more impressive that he could hold the voice of the character here. I've become a fan of Tilda Swinton over the years and I think this movie helps cement that. There was controversy over her being cast in this role, but I hope this movie helps alleviate that. It's not her fault. She's put in a difficult position and I think she succeeds. She carries this role with a gravitas and grace. I bet she must have had some fun with the martial arts choreography. It is always great to see Chiwetel Ejiofor appear and he was great in this. I think the only problem I had was Rachel McAdams. She is just wasted in a thankless role in this movie. She is the love/not love interest and that is all she brings. It's unfortunate. On that same note, they waste Mads Mikkelsen as the aforementioned Kaecillius too. Why even bother using great actors for these roles?

To wrap this up, I don't have much else to say really. It was good. I didn't catch a lot of easter eggs here, except for the Stan Lee cameo, which we are conditioned to look for at this point. I am glad that this movie will be successful and add another character to the movie library. Definitely check it out.

Luke Cage

I binge watched Luke Cage a few weeks ago. Specifically, over the weekend it came out. I've taken some time to start writing this because I wanted to let it sit with me for a little while. I didn't want to go with my instant reaction on this show. NOW, I'm ready to talk.

Luke Cage is a fantastic show. Don't take this the wrong way when I say this, but it is an unapologetic black show. By this I mean, the vast majority of the cast is black and the dialogue feels authentic.

Even in this day and age, this show is a huge risk in my opinion. We're living in 2016 and the idea of a prominent black cast outside of a show on BET is such a foreign concept. I applaud Marvel for not only taking this risk, but letting the show be what it is. I also want to point out that it was written and produced by a man of color, Cheo Hodari Coker.

Before I get into the wonderful cast, I want to start by going over some of the little things they did that I truly appreciate. First of all, like the other marvel shows, they feature the primary color that the character is known for. In Jessica Jones, purple was everywhere. In Daredevil, red was prominently featured. For Luke Cage, it's the color yellow. You see this in subtle details, like street lights, desk lights and the accent color in Luke's hoodie. He even dons his iconic yellow shirt for a scene.

Then there is the soundtrack of this show. To me, it had the funk vibe you would get from 70's era blaxploitation movies, an homage to the beginning of the Luke Cage character. It also incorporated hip hop. To take it another step further, there were a cross section of well known black musicians, auditioning within the show at Cottonmouth's club. This aspect made me reminiscence for the days of the tv show, "New York Undercover", where popular music acts would appear every week.

The mark of a good show is the scenery. This show made Harlem it's own character and showcased its history. I know some may think that sometimes it was a little too overt, but I think this needed to happen. I like that this show and all the other Marvel netflix shows exist in their own ecosystem.

For those that also think that this show is "ripped from the headlines" in the topics it covers, keep in mind that this was filmed months ago. I think it speaks volumes that this show is still topical because the kind of issues that are raised here keep happening and have been happening for years. This show goes out of it's way to make a black man in a hoodie a powerful, positive symbol. I applaud this.

Let me go into the actors before I finish up with what I actually thought about the story. Mike Coulter is as cool as the other side of the pillow as Luke Cage. I like that he's older and is played as such. We don't need to see a young, twenty something, brash Luke cage running around. This was perfect casting. I can't remember if I have said this before, but I have a crush on Rosario Dawson. Her inclusion in this show was perfect and felt natural. Building off their first meeting in Jessica Jones, it makes sense she would show up here. Also, they referenced events in Daredevil, to make sure these shows stay connected. She is one of a number of strong, leading ladies in this show.

Simone Missick is great as Misty Knight. Like Cage, she is age appropriate and I am glad they didn't go for some young, twenty-something. It would not have had the same effect. I want to round out and say that Alfre Woodard was a perfect, slimy politician. She had layers, just like all the other characters. Another reason I like this show.

Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth was a wonderful villain. I know I keep repeating myself, but he also had layers. The best villains are those that don't see themselves as the bad guy. He and Woodard's character have that to a T.

Not to give anything away, but Diamondback was a lot of fun.. He was a force of nature that I think helped give an air of uncertainty to the show. You didn't know what he was going to do next. I just could have done without the goofy costume he gets later.

Finally, the story itself. What I like about these Netflix shows is that they are self contained and small in scale. They are not about world threatening events. They are deeply personal battles with the characters. I honestly wish the movies could start to reflect this, but I understand they need to be bombastic to make billions of dollars. That's just a personal wish that will never come to pass.

I thought it was a weird choice to make Cage originally from Georgia and not Harlem like he is supposed to be. To me, his affection for Harlem is not as genuine as it could be. Sure he lived there now, but he's not FROM there. So when everyone talks about him as one of their own, it doesn't ring true. I let it slide because I know what it's supposed to be. The Netflix shows do seem to fall into a patter where the halfway point is where the hero is taken out of their normal environment for a few eps to deal with something big from the first half. Also, I really don't need a scientific explanation of Luke's powers. I hated they did that with Killgrave in Jessica Jones. We're watching a comic book show, so there is already a suspension of belief. I think you make it even worse trying to explain it. Just let it be. We saw what happened when George Lucas explained what the force really was.

Alright nerds. Join me in repressing this memory back down to the deepest, darkest depths. I'm sorry for bringing it up.

Since I've already talked long enough about this, let me bring this to a close. There were a couple of easter eggs in this show that made me gasp. At the end, Misty Knight is seen wearing a fro and a specific red outfit. The one from the comics! Yes, I gasped. They also show Claire pick up an ad for martial arts training from... Colleen Wing! Again, this is a deep cut reference to the comic books and I loved it! She forms a team with Misty Knight. I hope she shows up in Iron Fist! I made a brief reference to it earlier, but he puts on his goofy custom from the 70's in a brief scene. Let's not forget that he also says, "Sweet Christmas" a lot and it doesn't feel goofy. I think Mike Coulter make's it okay.

If I had to rank this on the Netflix shows, it would probably be 1B to the first season of Daredevil being 1A. I think the impact is greater because we get a hero of color that is well represented. I don't feel embarrassed by this show and I gladly recommend it to anyone else.

Batman - The Telltale Series - Episode 1

So, I'm a little late in posting this. I finished episode one a few weeks ago. I really like the games from Telltale and I loved "The Wolf Among Us". So you put Telltale and Batman together and I'm already sold.

I remembered that I have a PC and I can sometimes play games on there. So I picked this game up on Steam.

There was some good and bad with this game. I'll start with the good.

The graphics were really good. This was in the same style as all the other Telltale games of late, but closest to "The Wolf Among Us". The voice acting was pretty good. The story is pretty good too. I liked the focus on the Bruce Wayne side of things. That makes this a little more intriguing. I like that this takes place during the early days of his career. You get to have a first encounter with Catwoman and Harvey Dent is still just Harvey Dent. Not Two-Face. You are dealing with street level criminals and I hope they stick with this instead of trying to go straight to the bigger names in the rogues gallery.

On the Batman side, I like what they do with the detective aspect of Batman as you investigate the various environments you are in. If I have a problem with the Batman bits, it's the combat. You're using the quicktime button presses, but they felt a lot more natural in "The Wolf Among Us". You have to do weird combinations here. From what I can tell, missing them also do not make as big an impact. I think having the use the mouse to throw the batarang at certain points doesn't work very well. It's all too clunky.

The worst part about this first episode is the performance. I realize my PC is now four years old and will not be the best at playing newer games. When I ran into the first couple of hiccups, I dropped down the resolution to low, just to see if that helps. It did for a little bit, but then the performance would hitch up again. So during cutscenes, the audio would keep going but the screen would move at about two frames per a second. Sometimes I would even exit and come back in. It was extremely bad and killed some of the fun I was having. Never before have I seen performance issues such as this. I hope they fix this problem before the next episode. I guess that is what I get for playing it day and date.

All in all, it was a good first episode, performance aside. I look forward to the rest of the story and would recommend this to anyone that's a Batman fan.

Batman: The Killing Joke - DC Animated Movie

A few weeks ago I got to see the Killing Joke in theater during it's limited release. I am going to treat this movie like two separate movies. It's the only way I can reconcile what I saw.

For those that don't know, the graphic novel that this movie is based on was really short. So in adapting it, they had to add some filler. They felt that Batgirl needed to be fleshed out, so about thirty minutes was added to the film. While I can understand what they were trying to do, they failed so miserably that it detracts from the movie.

That first section dedicated to Barbara Gordon was so disjointed from the rest of the movie, it is completely jarring. It's why I made the two separate movies comment earlier. You have Batman and Batgirl chasing after some mid-level thug. Batgirl makes some very un-Batgirl like mistakes. Batman chastises her. That's the crux of this backstory. Where the outrage comes in over this section is what happens that has nothing to do with the crime stuff.

Batman and Batgirl get into an argument that has the anime trope of them happening to fall on top of another. Just when you think, "Hmm, that's weird, let's move on from this", they kiss. Normally you would think that Batman would push her away, seeing as this is pretty weird. He is a mentor to her and that would be taking the teacher/student relationship into a place you don't want to go. Then they go there. Batgirl takes off her shirt, Batman pulls her close and then it's on.

We could spend a paragraph talking about all the ways this feels wrong. I will keep it brief. I know they hint about a possible relationship between these two, but that's all it should ever be. A will they/won't they kind of vibe. What happens afterwards is worse. Now it's the day after and Batman won't call her. Barbara devolves into a love sick school girl, which doesn't ring true to the character we know. You spend the first twenty minutes of this movie trying to show how capable she is, albeit hard headed and then you do this. The sex scene between the two is bad enough, but the after effects are even worse. None of this felt right in any shape or form.

All this leads to Barbara giving up the mantle of Batgirl and then that dovetails into the real story.

The Killing Joke was one of many dark chapters in the Batman mythos. This story is near the top for me. There is brutal stuff that happens here. Not so much with the violence as the psychological terror the Joker inflicts on Barbara, Commissioner Gordon and Batman. Everything here was fantastic. We get the wonderful Mark Hamill back as the voice of the Joker. As always, he does an amazing job. We get more Kevin Conroy goodness as Batman. The voice acting was top notch. This is what the movie should have been without the first thirty minutes that were tacked on with little care.

The only thing I haven't liked about a lot of these DC animated movies lately is the art style that is used for the animation. It's always this third rate looking anime style that they seem to be in love with. At parts it detracted from the movie.

Would I recommend this movie? Yes, if you cut out those first thirty minutes. Otherwise, watch at your own peril. I guess you can see it as getting two movies for the price of one.

Betty and Veronica

It's all downhill once you open the book

Normally, I'm not moved to the point where I would write a post about how bad a comic book is. Then the first issue of the long awaited Adam Hughes written/penned Betty and Veronica series came out a few weeks ago and I just had to say something. This is what drew me out of my hidey-hole.

In this blog, I've stated on the record how I truly love Archie comics. So the fact that I'm writing something negative about this issue shows you how egregious it really is.

First of all, the new modern takes on the characters have been nothing short of fantastic. Gone is the fifties feeling of the Archie comic books. They now truly reflect current times. They have been smartly written and genuinely funny.

This book is neither of those. This book is not written well at all. I am always weary of artists who also fancy themselves as writers. That usually comes with disastrous results. There are many examples, but I'll start with Brian Hitch, Tony Daniel, Carlos Pacheco and even Jim Lee. You can now add Adam Hughes to that list.

Right off the bat, this first issue is ridiculously exposition heavy. There is such a thing as over writing on a comic book. Then there is the dialogue. Never has there been such a glaring example of old man writing teenage dialogue than the first few pages of this book and the rest of the issue. Archie and Jughead argue about . Then there are moments when the characters say "WTF". You may be thinking, "Well that's not so bad. What's your problem?". I should mention that it is spelled out as "Double-yoo tee eff". Who DOES that!?

Speaking of exposition heavy, the story is narrated by Jughead's dog, Hot Dog. This is such a weird stylistic choice as well. Specifically because he speaks as if he ate a thesaurus. Even MORE annoying is that they make that very joke before the issue's end.

Finally, none of the characterizations ring true. There is a discussion between Archie and Jughead that feels weird. Betty is doing yardwork for her "Mee-maw". Something I've NEVER heard Betty said in all the years of reading Archie comics. I'm no expert, but even I know that is not normal. Veronica is even more icy than she usually is. What really strikes me as odd is how different this comic is from all the other relaunches. It's like the editors just turned a blind eye and let this thing fall off the rails.

For their sake, I hope they either cancel this book or get a new creative team. I understand you want to bring in Adam Hughes to spike sales, but if this issue is indicative of what to expect, I'm ejecting  right now.

Suicide Squad!

I know this is late, but let's get started. This is starting to feel like a rote exercise for me. DC movie comes out. I go in hoping for the best and end up getting disappointed. With each succession, I lower my expectations to try and make these movies palatable. Then they still go under the bar.

Let's just get through this. Suicide Squad is a bad movie. I see what DC is going for here, but now was not the time. 

With Marvel, they were eight years and nine movies into their catalog before they introduce the off-beat and unexpected Guardians of the Galaxy. They had to build a universe before they could start digging into those C-level characters.

DC was trying to do that with Suicide Squad, but they had not put in the legwork yet to get here. It's too soon to trot out your C-level characters. I say this, not including Harley in that description.

So where do I even start with this movie? Let's just start with what I actually liked about this movie and then we'll go from there.

I thought Margot Robbie was a great Harley Quinn. I figured she would do a good job, but she did not disappoint. Will Smith was good as Deadshot. I liked Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. That is perfect casting in my opinion. There were some good jokes and some cool action scenes. I want you to take note of how short my list is for the things I liked.

This movie is all over the place. It doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be an action movie with a bunch of lovable rouges. Did we forget that this is a story about murderers? To try and flip the switch to make them heroes is more than forced. This movie should have gone darker because it doesn't  really deliver on the premise. These guys do what they're told for self preservation. Not because they want to right their wrongs. El Diablo's arc I can appreciate. I think he's the only one you could say is redeemable. Deadshot's hallmark like story is forced down our throats. While sweet in it's own way, I don't think that should be the focus of the movie.

Over half of this team is filler and not memorable. Killer Croc? Has maybe ten lines the whole movie. He's here to check a box. Katana, she shows up halfway and she doesn't really add much. Captain Boomerang? He yo-yos between lovable goofball and just too stupid for his own good. Rick Flag? He's as cookie cutter a soldier as you can get, without any of the charisma.

Let me spend a moment talking about Enchantress. They do some cool creepy stuff with her at first, but she devolves into generic super villain with a thin premise for taking over the world. Towards the end, as Carla Delevinge is hamming it up, it was too much for me to take. She had an exaggerated walk and head movements as the Enchantress that really irked me. The last fight scene with her I didn't like because at the end of the day, why is an all powerful sorceress going hand to hand with a group of people that have guns and bats? There's NO reason she would lose that fight!

I also don't like that the Suicide Squad's first mission is one to stop the end of the world. I am a big proponent of using at least a montage to show the time these guys spent together as a team. This way I can buy the friendship that they all share by the end of the movie. Here, it happens in the span of a day and it feels completely forced. Why should we buy the fact that they won't stab each other in the back at their first chance?

Then there is Jared Leto's Joker. With the first couple of screenshots, I was super worried. Then I thought, "I was worried about Heath Ledger's Joker and he was arguably the best one ever". Nope, Leto did not move the needle at all. The Juggalo appearance with his weird Joker voice was too much for me to overcome. Also, his neediness for the love of Harley doesn't exactly ring true.

If this movie had been rated R and they really cut loose, like villains should, this could have been a different movie. Instead it's a paint by numbers super hero story and we have enough of those already. I hate that this will make me look like DC hater, but they need to get it together with their motion pictures.

At least I have the TV shows to fall back on.

DC Rebirth

For those that don't know, DC decided that after five years of the "New 52" they are going to do another kind of reboot of their universe. The idea is to get their characters back to the classic elements that fans loved while trying to keep things fresh.

I will give DC credit, what they did five years ago took a big pair. I initially hated on the "New 52" idea. I warmed to it when it meant that everything will be new and I can jump in on the ground floor. Being a Marvel fanboy, I never had a full appreciation for DC's history and it's deep cast of characters.

After a couple of months, when I had paired down to a dozen or so comics that I wanted to actually read, something happened. I began to become less invested in the books. Constant changes brought on by editorial lead to that. I'm sure Geoff Johns leaving most books had that effect.

All of a sudden, I was dropping everything in sight except for Batman and Justice League. What had started off as a refreshing change had now become super dull.

When I heard about the Rebirth event and all the new creative teams on the books, my interest was piqued once again. I wasn't even remotely cynical this time around. In fact I was relieved.

In a later post, I will talk about my true feelings about the state of the comic industry as it relates to  Marvel and DC.

Anyways, this was a long way to say that I am now interested in DC again. The board has been reshuffled. However, what has me more excited is the creative teams on these books.

Batman is now written by Tom King. I'm not thrilled with David Finch on art, but maybe he'll impress me. I love the concept of the new Green Lanterns book. One of my favorite writers, Greg Rucka, has returned to write Wonder Woman. The biggest surprise of all is that I am interested in a Superman book. Who knew?? Credit goes to Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason who will be the creative team.

Although this is a short post (and late. These books are already out. I need to get it together!), I am excited to get some variety back in my reading. I'm slowly starting to turn against Marvel right now, so the balance is going to swing a little again.

In a future post, I will give my review of some of the series I mentioned above after we're about six issues in. Stay tuned!

HeroesCon 2016 - Post Mortem

I know it has been about a week, but I wanted to share my thoughts on HeroesCon. This was my twelfth consecutive trip to what is easily my favorite convention. That's because the focus is squarely on comic books.

I had another good time at this convention. However, something was different this time around. I came to a starting revelation that I knew was going to eventually happen. In all my years going to this convention and others, I have now pretty much exhausted my list of comics to search for. What I have always loved about these conventions is the thrill of the chase. I'm always looking for SOMETHING.

Since my friend and I have gone to this for so many years, the convention has become an exercise in routine and structure. I briefly described this in my post last year.

This year we took a different path than what we did last year. Instead of pre-ordering tickets, we simply bought our tickets with cash at the ticket booth. It took us all of two minutes. As you'll see in that post from last year, it took us nearly an HOUR. So this was a major boost.

After our traditional first couple of passes on the show floor, I noticed that a lot of the vendors that I normally see selling recent comics (within the last five years) for cheap were no longer here. Already, my list was in danger. I already dove into my secondary list of comics to buy. We call these my "Desperation" comics. These are comics I buy to just buy something to warrant coming to the convention at all. I know that sounds bad, but these are still comics I want, just not with a degree of urgency because I know I can ALWAYS find these. To recap, within the first day, I've already gone to my secondary list. This was a sign to me that I've now reached the saturation point. I no longer have anything new to chase.

We moved on to artist alley. There are many comic book artists I enjoy in the industry. They come to these shows to supplement their income. I know I'm not doing a good deed, but I want to purchase a print from them to show my appreciation and maybe in a small way, help them out. It can't be easy sitting at a table for eight hours hoping someone will buy art from you and not just window shop. I try to make a point of not looking through someone's art book if I don't intend to buy something.

This year, the artists I bought prints from were Sanford Greene (currently working on the latest iteration of Power Man and Iron Fist) and Veronica Fish (currently working on the new Archie comic). I always comment that I enjoy their work on book X and maybe ask a side question. Everyone I have ever met has been appreciative and friendly. Another reason I love this convention.

I spent the rest of our time at the convention itself, buying gifts for others and picking up art from other vendors that I enjoyed. Specifically, a couple of nice pieces from Will Pigg, Shaun Rosado and Rogan Josh.

One other thing we have stopped doing over the years is going to panels. We used to go to panels to break up our days on the show floor. We didn't do it last year and we didn't do it this year. None of the panels interest me, so this weekend is focused purely on buying.

All in all, we actually spent less time at the convention itself. This time has turned into, "Hey, let's do something cool in Charlotte". It's a very nice city and I have enjoyed it every time I visit.

I want to reiterate that I really enjoyed my time this year and I actually bought the same amount of comics that I have bought the past couple of years. It was just more focused on older comics. As always, I can't wait for next year!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

I'll be honest, I was dreading the existence of this movie. After suffering through the last one, I vowed never again. Michael Bay (via producing, not directing) ruined one of my childhood favorite cartoons.

Then I heard that Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and to a lesser extent, Baxter Stockman would be in this movie. I knew I was doomed. I was going to hate watch this film. Now keep in mind, I am well aware that I am part of the problem with movies like this getting made.

Anyways, back to the movie. Let me just put this out there. This is a terrible movie. It is terribly flawed. I understand they wanted to work in fan favorites, but the ham fisted way they do it is inexcusable. I so badly want to say how they get Bebop and Rocksteady to their mutant forms, but I don't want to ruin this for anyone that hasn't seen it yet. It's really stupid.

There's also a lot of over the top action set pieces. Splinter still looks terrible. Thankfully they limit his involvement in this movie. It was good to see Krang, but he was kind of annoying in this movie. I know I hated on Shredder in the last movie, but he is practically a non factor in this movie.

Now I know it sounds like I hated this movie, but I liked it in spite of itself. There is a greater sense of fun in this movie. You get to see all the Turtles bouncing off each other. Again, they get the characterization of the core group correct. Everyone has their defined roles. Megan Fox's April was less annoying. In fact, I didn't mind her in this movie. It's hard to see Stephen Amell as anything other than Oliver Queen. He did nothing to change that with this movie. He was a breath of fresh air though. Will Arnett got to chew some scenery as Vernon.

What surprised me the most though, was how much I loved Bebop and Rocksteady. For me, they made this movie. The chemistry of their friendship felt real. It's also refreshing to see that they never fought with each other. They were always on the same page. Surprisingly, that's rare to see with henchman characters. With that goofiness, they never really feel like threats, but were fun to watch. So yeah, this was just like the cartoon.

In the end, this movie had enough of the turtle lore. (Technodrome, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady, Karai). I feel like they might have wasted everything in this movie, but we'll see.

Checking in on my favs

Last year, I wrote a blog post sharing my favorite Marvel characters. As a fun exercise, I thought I would check in to see how they are doing. So let's get to it.

Power Man / Iron Fist - So they both have a netflix series coming up. They also have a brand new comic out. This comic has actually been fantastic and it makes me realize how much I've missed a buddy team up book (excluding Archer and Armstrong). Both characters are receiving a higher profile these past couple of months, so I'd say they are doing well. I'm not completely blind and a cynical Marvel fan. This is only happening because of the netflix shows. I am not complaining though.

Spider-Man - So I haven't read a Peter Parker led Spider-man book in almost a decade. Let me take that back because there was the Ultimate Spider-Man series. I haven't read a Spider-Man headlined book in the 616 universe in almost a decade. With that being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man. I was afraid he'd be a pandering, minority version of Spider-Man when he was first created. He has been fleshed out to be a fully three dimensional character. After the Secret Wars saga, he is now a part of the main Marvel Universe. Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his show stealing turn in the Civil War movie. I'm ready to accept a Peter Parker Spider-Man in my life now.

Wolverine - I haven't read a solo Wolverine book in a long time as well. I did read the wonderful "Wolverine and the X-Men" series a few years ago. With Wolverine still "dead" in the main Marvel Universe, I have taken to reading the series, "All New Wolverine. There is a series called, "Old Man Logan" that I haven't checked out. For now, I'm getting my fix of Logan in the "Extraordinary X-Men" book.

The Thing - Unfortunately, there is not a lot of the Thing going around in Marvel right now. It's been over a year since the Fantastic Four comic was cancelled. He's been relegated to the current Guardians of the Galaxy book. His inclusion on the team makes no sense, but I am just glad he's still out there. My heart continues to wait for a return of the Fantastic Four as a group in the new Marvel Universe.

Black Panther - Much to my pleasure, the profile of the Black Panther has risen recently He currently has a new solo book on the stands. Even better, it's been given a top creative team. I'll do a separate post on this book after a few more issues are in the can. He played an important part in the new Captain America: Civil War movie. He also currently stars in "The Ultimates", which is also on the stands. So yeah, we are getting a lot of Black Panther lately and I couldn't be happier. I'm more pleased that the mainstream is really getting a chance to see him. With a solo movie on the horizon, his star is only going to continue to rise. I just hope Marvel doesn't do anything to ruin that.

X-Men: Apocalypse

I feel like I start every movie review with a line about how, "I am a huge fan of X and it was one of the first comics I started reading". So I'm going to just skip my long history with the X-Men and just get right into what I thought about this movie. Spoilers ahead.

I've come to a realization with the past couple of comic book movies and I've decided the kind of comic book movie I like. I like a movie where there are low stakes. By that, I mean there is personal crisis for the main character, but it is not a world wide cataclysmic event. I don't need a movie about heroes trying to save the world. The personal stories that are more important to me. I know these movies cost a lot to make, but look at what Deadpool did. That movie encapsulates almost everything I want. It was personal, it was not about the end of the world and it remained within the confines of what it was.

Then there is this movie. Each X-Men movie has escalated to ridiculous portions in my opinion. I didn't hate the movie, but I didn't love it either. Like with most comic book movies, there are a lot of nerdy things I get. However, I really begin to think, "I may get this, but would a normal person get it?". The mark of a good movie is that it tells a good story without being exclusive. I do not hold on to an entitled belief that these movies are made for ME. I will not make the studio money. The masses will and these movies need to be accessible.

I don't think this movie is and I will go into some detail to explain what I mean. I am sorry, but you will see my using the phrase, "Checking a box". I mean this to say that there certain items that just HAD to be included in this film so much so that it felt like they had a list of items that needed to appear to be an X-Men movie.

They trot a lot of tried and true X-Men characters in this film. They expect you to get on board for them. I'm a fan of these characters, so I know their backstory. However, that is not relayed in the film. New additions Cyclops and Storm get some backstory within this movie. Characters such as Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Psylocke and Angel do not. Jubilee is even in this movie, but good luck knowing anything about her. You won't get any information. I would go so far as to say the main villain of this movie, Apocalypse has such a thin backstory and so little motivation that I have a problem with him throughout this movie. I'll get back to him in a moment.

With the characters I listed above, they expect you to care about these characters and want you to feel bad when they are in peril. The problem is, they have not earned that yet. I have to buy that Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Jean Grey are such a good team based on what? A shared trip to see a movie? They come together to form a team to save others, but we never see them spend any other time together. The back half of the movie turns into an almost singular reliance on Nightcrawler and his teleportation ability. The character of Psylocke is the most puzzling because if you remove her from this movie, nothing changes. She has zero impact on this movie and her inclusion is fan service at best. You have another great character who gets to show up, but ultimately does nothing. I hear stories of how Olivia Munn trained for this role and took a lot of martial arts. We see none of that in the movie.

Another horseman, Angel, shows up and his whole role is to be quickly turned into Archangel. He is pretty much ineffective in the final battle as well. Including him was checking another box.

What I think is the biggest tragedy is Apocalypse himself. He has been reduced down to a one note villain, hell bent on destruction. Why? Because he's evil. Really though, why? The opening sequence that serves as his origin really doesn't tell us much. So many questions are not answered. What is special about the new host? How did the original Apocalypse become Apocalypse? Then he just disappears for thousands of years and comes back and immediately tries to destroy the world. His motivations or his power set is never really explained. This movie does a disservice to him. They just wanted to include a major X-Men villain. Congratulations. Mission accomplished. 

The deifying of Mystique continues to puzzle me. I understand that now that Jennifer Lawerence is a huge star, these movies have shifted to focus more on her. She also spins a lot of time not in the blue makeup. Just like with the last movie, she gets a lot of screen time. My problem is that Mystique is supposed to be someone working in the shadows. She does little of that here. 

The last thing I want to touch on is Magneto. This guy cannot catch a break. He's already a tragic figure but they just keep piling on him. Either make him good or make him bad. He's gone back and forth so many times, how can you believe him any more? He is always simultaneously the good guy and the bad guy in each of the movies.

One shining bright spot in these movies is Quicksilver. He basically steals every scene he is in. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish there was more Quicksilver in the movie. Not something I came remotely close to saying in the Avengers movies.

There is a lot more I could say and I hate to sound like I'm dumping on this movie, so I'll stop. To finish on a positive note, I did like the nods to their costumes in the final scene and the inclusion of the Danger Room. The special effects are still pretty good. James McAvoy is a great Charles Xavier.

When we got X-men: First Class, I was excited for the direction this franchise was going in. Two movies later, that excitement is gone. Now I just hope they can right the ship because this was a surprisingly by the book, super hero movie. The kind that we need to move past.

Captain America - Agent of what now?

I realized that I haven't written a single blog entry about anything that WASN'T comic book movie related. Guess it's time to change that.

So apparently the new issue, Captain America #1 made the mainstream news due to some controversy. This book was already in my pull list so I was going to read it anyway. After hearing about this, I had to uncharacteristically put it at the top of my list. I just had to read it right away!

Now that I have, all I had to say was, "Meh". I mean, I get the controversy. Spoilers ahead. It is revealed at the end of the issue that Captain America is an agent of Hydra. Not that he just turned, but that he's been a Hydra agent all along.

What the what? Let's just forget the fact that they are ignoring 75 years of history that contradicts this very reveal. Let's also ignore the fact that despite what they say, there has not been subtle clues that lead to this. It came out of left field.

This is a dumb decision by Marvel, but I will tell you why I'm not as enraged as I should be. First and foremost, I feel like I can see the wheels turning behind such a move. You just had a Captain America movie that made hundreds of millions of dollars. The Captain America comics haven't been a big seller, so you want to make a shocking move that gets people talking. Congratulations, Marvel. It worked.

I wish companies would realize that negative attention isn't better than no attention at all. Or maybe I'm just wrong and now a lot of people will pick up this book based on this.

I got a little off my main point. This is comic books. Nothing lasts forever. I give this storyline one year to run it's course. Two years at best. Then it will be revealed that he's a Skrull or that he was brainwashed or they will grab some alternate reality Captain America that was never an agent of Hydra. Some comic book trope will be used to wash this whole thing away in due time.

To all my comic friends out there, hang in there. This will be another terrible decision that you will remember in a few years when a "Top 10 Comic mistakes of all time" click-bait article comes out.

Captain America: Civil War

After a couple of days and two showings of this movie, I've had enough time to gather my thoughts about this movie. As if you might not already be able to tell, I loved this movie. There were so many little things about this movie that I loved. So let's get right to it. Slight spoilers may follow.

I will start off by saying any comic fans that were expecting this movie to be like the comic book event from a few years ago, prepare to be disappointed. This movie deviates from almost all facets of that story except for a central conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. I for one applaud that. I don't want a literal translation of the comic book pages to the screen. Also, let's be realistic. If you're paying attention, a lot of those characters in that story have not been introduced into the Marvel cinematic universe. Or they do not have the rights to those characters. I think people forget that the Fantastic Four was a big part of this event. Marvel doesn't have the rights to them. The X-Men were involved too. Guess what, Fox has them.

This movie does grab just about every hero we have seen so far and puts them into this movie with the exception of Hulk and Thor.

I won't go into a plot synopsis with this little review. Instead, I will talk about what I liked and what I didn't like.

Two of my favorite characters, Spider-Man and Black Panther were well represented in this film. Spider-Man is a revelation and the actor, Tom Holland gives us the best onscreen Spider-Man we've seen yet. His inclusion in this movie is bigger a bigger deal than most casual fans realize. To summarize, the film rights to Spider-Man belong to Sony, not Marvel. So for him to even APPEAR in this movie, some deals and money had to change hands. Going any further would be too inside baseball, but let's say they get the most out of it. His characterization was spot on and he didn't get lost in the shuffle. In fact, he probably shone brightest.

It was so great to see the Black Panther appear on screen for the first time. He was also well represented. Chadwick Boseman put on a great performance (and believable accent) into his version of T'Challa. We do not get to see the super intelligent, patient T'Challa that we see in the comics, but this movie is our introduction and that can be forgiven. He is probably the character that had the most personal stake in this movie and is arguably the most sympathetic character. He is practically pulled into this conflict due to forces out of his control.

I want to just take a moment and geek out about a few specific Black Panther items in this movie before I continue. When I heard that the character Martin Freeman was going to play in this movie was Everett K. Ross, I was giddy. He is a character that was introduced in the wonderful Christopher Priest run of the Black Panther comics that came out 1998. Also, they included the Dora Milaje, which are female warrior bodyguards of the Black Panther. Finally, they show a glimpse of Wakanda during the end credits. Needless to say, I'm super excited for the Black Panther movie.

Speaking of other characters who steal the show, I would be remiss if I also didn't mention Ant-man. Paul Rudd plays him with such an "Aw shucks. I'm glad to be included" vibe that you can't help but to root for him. He makes the most of every moment that he is on the screen.

To round out the rest of the characters, Falcon is great once again. I loved their interpretation of Redwing, his remote controlled drone. In the comics, Redwing is a falcon that he has a psychic connection too. So yeah, they made a much better choice here. Captain America, although outnumbered in this movie, still gets to be the central character in the story. Even if he does have to share some of the time with Iron Man.

I do like how they balanced the large cast that they had in this movie. Everyone gets to have a moment, which is more than I can say for Age of Ultron. I also love seeing how all the characters interact with each other in combinations that we normally don't get to see. It's good to see them all bounce off one another. The action was also great. I like that with the Captain America movies, we get a lot more hand to hand action, which is the stuff I love. You get pieces of that in the Avengers movies, but never to this extent. You get to see Cap really got loose in his own films.

If I have any gripes with this film, is that there is not really a villain for the heroes to fight. They just fight each other. This version of Helmut Zemo is not what we get in the comics, but he works for what they were going for here. He set up the conflict that will tear the Avengers apart. We get to see Crossbones, who was built up towards the end of the last movie, only to be dispatched within the first twenty minutes.

Speaking of villains, while I liked the twist at the end, I was a little disappointed that it didn't go in the direction that I was hoping. What happens is still satisfying.

Even though the movie has been out for over a week, I don't want to go into any more detail than I already have. I will have a supplemental post where I will cover some loose ends.

I liked Winter Soldier more, but this was a very strong entry into the Marvel Universe.

Daredevil - Season 2!

Has it really been a full year since the first season of Daredevil came into our lives? I've had a couple of weeks to let my feelings on this show marinate. Also, the arrival of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, kind of pushed this out of my mind.

As I reflect back on the second season of Daredevil, I still feel the same. It was really good. I had a few problems, but not enough to make me enjoy the show any less.

So where to begin? Let's start with the Punisher. We get the best Punisher seen on screen to date. Jon Berenthal was a very inspired choice. He was perfectly cast. I like that he starts off as a force of nature in the first half of the season. They give his character an arc and I love the philosophical foil he makes for Daredevil.

While I'm on the Punisher, I will just say that the violence this season was cranked up to an 11. With the Punisher involved, it is appropriate I think. What better way to show how different he is from our heroes?

The other new edition was Elektra. She was her ball of crazy. Her arc takes longer to get going, but I think it served it's purpose. They did flesh her out enough, but she's not the focus.

Let's talk about the main characters. I still really like the portrayal of Daredevil/Matt Murdock. Charlie Cox continues to give a great performance. In true Daredevil fashion, he is put through the emotional wringer in this season. I still do wish they'd give him more time in the court room to show why he's a great lawyer. What little they've shown, has been good. Maybe in my heart of hearts, I want this to be a super hero Law and Order.

I still like Foggy and Karen. This season Karen gets a lot more screen time.

Instead of focusing on individual performances and all that like I usually do, I'm going to summarize what I thought of the show.

I thought this second season was very good. It escalated the events from the first season. Where I think it falls flat is that in the first season, you had the Kingpin. He was a defined end boss for the hero to work towards. In this season it starts off as the Punisher. Then Elektra. Then the Hand. Then who's controlling the Hand. It heaps mysteries on top of mysteries to the point where it felt like they were just checking off boxes in the Daredevil handbook.  It very much felt like some of this was just treading water to really open it up in Season 3.

The season started off with such promise, but like Jessica Jones, I think it peaked way too soon by having our hero interact with the supposed, big bad within the first four episodes. While I'm glad they didn't drag out the Daredevil/Punisher conflict, I don't like that it had to happen so early. Seeing as how the rest of the season was paced, I guess they had to.

As I reflect back, they really did pack a lot into this season, to the point where some stuff never gets to breathe. We never really see Matt/Karen enjoy their relationship before it's over. We still don't see much court room stuff from Matt, which makes you wonder how their law firm ever stayed afloat. They do make references to it, but it's just amazing to me.

Also, at the end of the day, the Hand storyline really bugged me. It's fine in the comics, but dare I say, in this show it is TOO comic booky. I like how grounded the show was last season and everything got escalated in season 2 to some ridiculous degrees. Anyone that complained about the violence should stay away from this season, that's for sure.

Speaking of violence, I briefly wanted to touch on the action. The fight choreography in this show continued to be amazing. There was a great fight scene in episode 3 that was a long "single shot" fight scene like the hallway scene in the first season. I absolutely love these scenes and I'm glad they only do it once a season, so it doesn't get over used.  A minor quibble is that there were some weird hiccups in some of the fight scenes. They were framed in such a way that you could clearly see missed punches and kicks. That got distracting as the season went along.

I still enjoyed the show, but season 1 was definitely better.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Normally I would come up with some cutesy intro, but I'm going to just dive right into this. There were a lot of cool moments, but this was a bad movie. I want the higher ups at DC to wrest away the keys to all the franchises from Zack Snyder. Unfortunately, this movie made a lot of money, so that won't happen.

Before I go into a list of complaints, one of my biggest problems with the movie and Man of Steel is this. These movies don't need to be dark literally and figuratively. These movies should be fun. Not every DC movie has to feel dark like Batman. Their TV shows are fantastic. I just wish they would translate that same sense of fun to the movies.

So for anyone that hasn't seen the movie yet, there will be spoilers. I can't really get all my vitriol out without mentioning specific scenes.  Please read on with caution.

Let me start with the good.

Ben Affleck is the best Batman since Michael Keaton. He's definitely my #2 behind Keaton. These are words I never thought I would utter. Especially since I was  ready to avoid this movie based on his casting alone.

Even though you only get a small sampling, Gal Gadot was wonderful as Wonder Woman. I mean, she gets her own theme with an awesome guitar riff when she shows up. It may be the best super hero entrance I've seen in a movie. It's a moment that is worthy of applause.

Henry Cavill is still a good Superman, he's just overshadowed in this movie and that's not a slight against him. This movie simply does not focus on him that much.

Amy Adams still makes Lois Lane capable and not a constant damsel in distress. I don't like how she's always in the right place at the right time in climatic fight scenes, but I can ignore that.

The musical score was amazing, which I expect no less from Hans Zimmer. Like all Zack Snyder movies, it was very beautiful. It was less muted this time around. Some of the action was pretty good.

Okay, now let me get to the meat of my arguments against this movie. This movie is a hot mess. It is paced poorly. This movie is billed as Batman Vs. Superman, but you don't get to see that until the last thirty minutes of the movie. So you have to suffer through two hours of fake out dream sequences, creepy Lex Luthor and ham fisted contrivances to get the two at odds with each other.

They really lean into the Superman as a god symbolism way too much for my tastes. Every time he does something heroic, the sun just happens to be behind him at the right angle. I know this is nitpicking, but I wish they would have shown Superman doing more heroic things other than saving Lois. It's implied he's been around for a while now doing this, but in a movie like this you need to show us, not tell us.

Once again, we get another take on Batman's origin, which at this point we really don't need anymore. However, every director is compelled to give their take on it. In fact, there's a reason Batman's name comes first in the movie. A lot of time is spent with Bruce Wayne/Batman, as opposed to Clark Kent/Superman.

This movie also does it's best to cater to comic book fans. We get brief cameos of Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman. While it is cool, I wish we could have seen more of them. You're already packing everything else into this movie, why not? Did I mention that Doomsday shows up? Guess I had not got to that yet. This felt like another instance of checking off the comic book nerd box. They make up his powers as they went along. Then they go ahead and push in the Death of Superman story line at the end. Neither of these things really needed to be in the movie.

Maybe I'm getting old, but special effect heavy explosions and sequences just don't do it for me anymore. There's a lot of destruction in this movie as they fight around Metropolis or Gotham. All I kept thinking is, "How many people are getting killed in the middle of this?". It's kind of ironic because Batman's whole argument against Superman is how all the innocent people were killed in the last movie. Then he engages Doomsday and does the exact same thing.

Speaking of Batman, what was up with him using guns so much in this movie? The whole deal with Batman is he is very anti-gun. I mean, he straight up murders a guy at the end to save Martha Kent. This stuff felt like a betrayal of the character.

To bring this home, I didn't like Lex Luthor's portrayal at all. He came off as creeptastic instead of menacing. His evil schemes were all over the place. He wanted all the kryptonite, Zod's body, the Kryptonian ships and he wanted to pit Batman against Superman. I should mention that he somehow knows their true identities. He also has this weird hold over a couple of senators, but it's never fully explained what he has on them other than being an eccentric rich guy.

Finally, there's hints at Darkseid, which no normal person would know or catch. So dropping them into this movie with little explanation makes it more confusing.

I really want the DC movies to do well. I do. However, this is not the way to go. They will make a lot of money, but my personal enjoyment has not come along for the ride. At least I have all the wonderful TV shows they do such as Flash, Arrow, iZombie, Supergirl and Legends of Tomororw.

I can't recommend this movie, but I think you should watch it yourself to form your own opinion.

Deadpool!!

The comic movie season begins with Deadpool! Let me just say that the other movies have a lot to live up to because this movie was fantastic.

Normally I would spend a paragraph talking about what a Deadpool fan I am and how I've been buying his series off and on for the past fifteen years. I recently stopped because it reached a point of critical mass and the character had become a parody of a parody of a parody of himself. He's become a complete buffoon. Funny, sure, but he borderline obnoxious now.

That is why I am happy that the movie pulled back on that a lot. He still has his quips, but gone are the ridiculous scenarios where he gets various body parts chopped off because he can. He is practically a Looney Tunes character.

Anyways, where was I? Oh right, this movie is really good.

Now comes the specifics. My biggest worry is that this movie would play like a live action cartoon. Although they do go over the top with some of the violence, they showed tremendous restraint in not going too far. The ridiculousness was really saved for the freeway scene which pops in and out of the movie.

Speaking of that freeway scene, I liked how this movie cut back and forth between present day and his origin story. This mixed it up so you don't have to sit through an origin before you get to the stuff you really want to see. I'm okay with this non-linear kind of story telling.

What I also liked is that the big action set pieces bookend the origin stuff in the middle. This movie wasn't all action and actually slowed down to really show you what Wade Wilson went through to become Deadpool. At the heart of this movie, there is a love story that does play out.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool is the most dead-on casting I've seen in a super hero since Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. What is also readily apparent is you can see how much fun he had playing this character. It also speaks volumes he tried so hard for so long to get this movie made. That earns him many brownie points. In between the constant quips as Deadpool, he does show some range with how he is before he becomes Deadpool too. Even though his a not so nice person to begin with, you do feel for him and root for him. I think that hinges on the infinite amount of charm that Reynolds brings.

I'll wrap up by saying the humor in this movie is top notch. Just take a look at the opening credits. A lot of humor is pretty meta and that's what adds to the appeal. Shots are taken at the tragic super hero movies of the past that Reynolds was a part of. The fact that they would go there speaks volumes. There are also fourth wall breaking jabs at the budget of the movie, events happening in the movie itself (the Deadpool rap song) and continuity issues with the X-Men franchise as well.

This movie is completely satisfying and it is very much a hard R rating. It will hold up to subsequent viewings, where more jokes may be discovered. Also, knowing that there was a lot of ad-libbing going on, I can only imagine what ended up on the cutting room floor. Hopefully a bulk of it makes it's way into an uncut DVD release.

The Inevitable Best and Worst of 2015 List

2015 was a weird year for me. This is why it’s taken me so long to post this. At least that is what I will tell myself. There was a lot of good stuff, but nothing that really blew me away. The Secret Wars event sucked the life out of the Marvel Universe, due to all the delays. It cut down on my buying for a few months, since I was disinterested in most of the mini-series that spun out of it. This delayed the “All New, All Different” era of Marvel comics, which hit in the final quarter of the year.

The trend that started last year, definitely continued into this year. My number of DC books has dwindled down to a handful. On the other side, I’ve continued to buy more Image books. A slew of my favorite creators have created their own titles there and they are telling more personal stories that are dear to their hearts. Probably the biggest surprise looking at what I bought this year is how Archie comics have really crept back into my reading. Without further ado, here is my yearly (and always late) review of the year of 2015.

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:

• Zero - Image 
• Wytches - Image 
• Bitch Planet - Image 
• Wonder Woman - DC 
• Cowl - Image 
• Powers - Icon 
• Pretty Deadly - Image 

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2015
Daredevil – Netflix - I had a previous post about this show back in March and even though many shows came on during the year, it is still my clear cut favorite comic book TV show of the year. I thought it was paced very well, had great action scenes and a very likable cast. The show had a good, consistent look about it. I won’t go into more detail, since my previous post covered all this. There were other strong contenders like Jessica Jones and the Flash this year.
Honorable Mentions: Jessica Jones, Flash, Supergirl

Worst TV show of 2015
Powers – Playstation - I had only watched two episodes of this series, but that was all I needed to declare Powers as the worst comic book show of the year. I still do not want to go back and finish it. This is exclusive to the Sony Playstation and let’s hope it stays that way. The show looks like it had no money behind it. Agents of Shield looks better than this show and that is saying a lot. It looks like it was filmed on a camcorder. I like Sharlto Copley, but he is badly miscast for this show. Also, at the end of the day, the show is just really boring. I won’t give any more words to this show to say how bad it is. Watch for yourself if you feel brave.
Honorable Mention: Agents of Shield

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2015
Trees – Image - Maybe it was the shipping schedule, but I absolutely forgot that I was still buying Trees by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard. What initially started as a fun series is slowly grinding to a halt for me as my interest has waned. I’m starting to forget why I was interested in this book in the first place. It has a few more issues to grab me or it is off my list permanently.
Honorable Mention: East of West - Image

Favorite New Artist of 2015
Russell Dautermann – Thor - This award doesn’t mean the artist is new to the industry. This just means it is my first exposure to them. For this award, it goes to Russell Dautermann. I was first introduced to his work with the new Thor series and the subsequent, “Mighty Thor” series. There is such a kinetic energy in his art. This really helps with all the lightning he has to draw for Thor. What I also mean is that all his characters look distinct, so you don’t feel like he used one model to draw them. I hope this is only the start of his work on Marvel and that he moves up to bigger titles. Thor is definitely made more enjoyable with him on art.
Honorable Mentions: Jason Fabok – Justice League

Worst Artist of 2015
Salvador Larroca – Star Wars: Darth Vader - The only reason the artists of Zero, by image didn’t win this title is because it was a number of people, not one person, so this easily goes to Salvador Larroca who drew Star Wars: Darth Vader. It seems like many moons ago when I liked Larroca. That was then and this is now. Although he kept up with a monthly schedule on this book, the only thing that has looked good has been Darth Vader himself. Really, anyone with a FACE looked pretty terrible. Overall, his art just started to look more and more rushed.
Honorable Mentions: Collective Artists of “Zero”

Favorite Artist of 2015
Sean Murphy - Chrononauts,  Tokyo Ghost - Normally I would choose Stuart Immonen or Matteo Scalera because I always love their art. In the interest of fairness, I will choose someone else. To that end, I choose Sean Murphy as my pick of the year. He did both Tokyo Ghost and Chrononauts this past year. After seeing his work on “The Wake” last year, I’ve grown to really love his art and always look forward to it.
Honorable Mentions: Wes Craig – Deadly Class, Emmanuela Luppachino – Starfire, Stuart Immonen – Star Wars, Captain America

Favorite New Writer of 2015
Tom Taylor - All New Wolverine - This was difficult because there weren’t a lot of new writers that I came across this year. I guess I’ve stuck to my guns. There was one new name that emerged at the end of the year that has a book I’m currently reading right now. Tom Taylor wrote a handful of books that I read this year. One of them was the Secret Wars one shot for the Agents of Atlas, which is a soft spot of mine. The other is the “All-New Wolverine” that just started. Technically a few issues came out last year, so I can easily say that I like his take on X-23 turned Wolverine. Maybe I’ll encounter some more of his work later this year.
Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2015
Marguerite Bennett - Years of Future Past, A-Force - As a whole, I enjoy what I read. So it was hard to remember any writer that I didn’t like. Then I remembered A-Force. Although it was co-written with G. Willow Wilson, whom I enjoy, I didn’t feel like it was her voice that ruined the A-Force mini-series. In lieu of anything else (and combined with my general feeling of “meh” to the Years of Future Past mini) this made the decision easy. I think the clunkly feel of a lot of the dialogue led to her winning this category for me. A lot of what characters say feel too ingrained in pop culture to work in the alternate realities in which those books were based. Now that I think about it, this was an easy decision.
Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Writer of 2015
Rick Remender - Black Science, Tokyo Ghost, Low, Deadly Class - I think last year, my writer of the year was Jason Aaron. This year, I will have to say it is Rick Remender. I’ve been meaning to write a long post on him, but never got around to it. I’ll say a little bit here. I don’t think anyone has been more prolific than Remender this year. What I really enjoy about his writing is that everything feels so personal. You may not agree with his views, but you can see that he puts a little of himself into each of his books. Between Deadly Class, Low, Black Science and Tokyo Ghost, you get a different piece of Remender’s ideals. All of these series have been wildly imaginative and have featured fully formed universes. Not working for the big two has done wonders for Rick, as he has had complete control over what he is doing. You can tell that he is enjoying the stories he is telling and I am enjoying reading them.
Honorable Mentions: Jason Aaron, Greg Rucka

Pleasant Surprise of 2015
Doctor Strange – Marvel - If you told me a few years ago that I would be reading a Doctor Strange comic and enjoying it, I would call you a liar. Never in my life have I read a Doctor Strange book. Then the team of Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo came along and I knew I had to give it a chance. This book has not disappointed. These two go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. Dr. Strange is all about crazy magical wackiness and Chris Bachalo puts so much detail into his art that he handles this very well. More amazingly, is he handles the coloring of the art, so he is able to use different color queues to great effect.
Honorable Mentions: Archie – Archie Comics, Paper Girls – Image, Chrononauts – Image, Starfire - DC

Worst Mini-series of 2015
Archie vs. Predator – Archie Comics - I will be one of the first to praise Archie Comics and how they are always willing to take risks. Then there is this book. Really, it’s my own fault for buying it. I have no one to blame, but myself. One paper this combination is the last thing that would pop into your mind. Then the book actually came out. Part of the problem I have with this book is that it involves violence with Archie characters that you don’t normally see. It just does not fit. Combine that with boiling the characters down to laughable charactures of themselves and you can see why I don’t like this book. It offended me on every level of my Archie fandom. This is the kind of book that you get mad at for existing because it sullies your childhood.
Honorable Mentions: Some of the Secret Wars books

Favorite Mini-series of 2015
Master of Kung Fu - Marvel - I think my favorite mini-series of the year is “Master of Kung Fu” that spun out of the Secret Wars event. I’m choosing this because this book felt like an old Kung Fu movie. I thought the art from Dalibor Talajic was fantastic in this book. It also helps that I have a soft spot for Shang Chi. This book also featured alternate takes of Iron Fist and a number of other Marvel characters, in the Kung Fu.
Honorable Mentions: We Stand on Guard – Image, Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows

Favorite New Series of 2015
Archie – Archie Comics - I was looking forward to the new take on Archie and this book did not disappoint. With a super team like Mark Waid and Fiona Staples how could it? Oddly enough, I do like the kind of mockumentary style that they use, ala The Office or Parks and Recreation. Also, the town of Riverdale has been modernized, which is something Archie comics have never been accused of. What also helps this theory is that the dialogue feels authentic. With an older guy like Waid writing young characters, the fear is always that it would be an approximation of how young people talk…in a fantasy world ran by old people. The only downside is this is only a monthly book. I think the comic industry has spoiled us into expecting double shipping on books!
Honorable Mentions: Jughead – Archie Comics, Tokyo Ghost - Image, Ringside - Image

Worst Series of 2015
X-Men 92’ – Marvel -This one was surprisingly difficult. Thankfully I avoided most of the bad books out there, but I’m only human. However, I think I have decided on X-Men 92’. This is a book that was made purely to appeal to the nostalgia we had for the Blue Team/Gold Team days of the X-Men. I hate to go all elitist nerd here, but I had a lot of issues with this book. First of all, the Blue Team they were going for did not contain Storm. Then they try to cram in other 90’s characters such as the cast of X-Force, which was also wrong. What this makes this a bigger affront to me is that this started as a web series, which they then sold at full price. The capper is it was written in the style of a 90’s comic, meaning it was wrought with lots of expositional dialogue. Current me hates that sensibility that was used in the 90’s. Wow, I wrote way more about this than I thought I would. Guess this was pretty easy after all.
Honorable Mentions: Ultimate End – Marvel, Uncanny Avengers - Marvel

Favorite Series of 2015
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – IDW -This was a year full of many good books, but finding one that I liked all year long turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I went with my gut and chose the book that was consistent, but also provided some genuinely shocking moments.

My favorite series of 2015 was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I can’t believe I chose a licensed property, but hear me out. This series has taken what we’ve all known about the Ninja Turtles growing up and has put in enough twists to make this all fresh. Characters such as the Fugitoid, Bebop and Rocksteady and the Mousers were introduced over the past year. We had a major death with one of the Turtles. I would say which one it was, but I don’t want to spoil in case you want to read it at some point. The death was visceral and truly heart wrenching when it happened.

Then you have a final confrontation between Shredder and Splinter that does not end quite like how you think. The status quo has been constantly changing and they have built up a huge cast of characters. The art remained consistent and the same writers have been on the book since its inception.

The more I think about this, it truly is my book of the year. If you haven’t read this book, I think it is worth checking out. It does help if you like the Ninja Turtles, of course.
Honorable Mentions: Star Wars, Deadly Class, Lazarus, Daredevil