Into the Longbox

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...

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...

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 straig...

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 cri...

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 wi...

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 ...

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 of...

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...

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 involvemen...

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 Moral...

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 portio...

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 Marv...

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...

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 n...

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 wo...

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 r...

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...