Panel Vision - Top 10 Comics of 2015

And so 2015 comes to an end, the comics landscape a severely different place than it was but a year ago.  Marvel is caught in the throws of its first reboot, Star Wars comics are on shelves and the best they’ve ever been, Valiant is in the headlines, Prez is back from obscurity, and the DC You is a thing.  Yes it’s been a year full of change as well as a great year for comics.  Seriously, despite the very important points raised over issues of representation, creator rights and credit, and harassment that have blighted the industry this past year there has been a lot of great comics and we’re here today to list them because that’s how we mark the end of the year.  So with that said here are the top 10 best comics of 2015.

Comics Rainbow - Time Masters

It’s fitting that at the end of one year and the beginning of a new one time travel is a subject of some emphasis.  Back to the Future dominated the national consciousness once more during 2015, Doctor Who found itself reinvigorated with an amazing new season, and Legends of Tomorrow promises to whisk us away on an adventure through time with a mini-Justice League of its own making.  

Given all that I thought I’d take a look at the time travelers of the DC Universe, mainly because they’re a lot more straight forward and understandable than the mangled mesh of nonsense over at Marvel, seriously you do not want to have me explaining the relationship between Kang, Immortus, Ramma Tut, Dr. Doom, and Iron Lad to you.  For now let’s dive in to the Time Masters of DC Comics in all their shades, shames, and successes. 

Panel Vision - World Without Batman

Merry Christmas everyone, even to those of you like me who might not observe the holiday.  Christmas has always been a weird time for me as a result of that little wrinkle.  It’s become sort of a known joke at this point that most Jews like me spend Christmas at the movies and enjoying all the Chinese food we can put our hands to but that’s just a small part of a broader phenomena.  Because this time of year is so centralized around traditions a lot of us who don’t celebrate Christmas work to craft our own traditions, so as to still be included in the overall emphasis on traditional celebration while making it our own and preserving a certain sense of identity. 

Me, being a nerd with an aesthetic preference for the trappings of Christmas, I usually spend the holidays hunting down holiday superhero adventures and boy do I have one to share here.  It may not be specifically Christmas oriented but given it’s the same basic plot as It’s A Wonderful Life I think we’ll all count it, this is “World Without Batman.”

Comic Rainbow - X-Men Villains

So, the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse is here.  I already gave my thoughts on it but in case you missed that I was less than thrilled.  I’ve never really been on board with the X-Men films and, truth be told, the X-Men comics have always been kind of hit or miss for me as well.  There are runs I like but by and large a lot of it is really mixed, especially when it comes to villains.  

Sure there are great villains but even the good ones can often fall prey to insane and convoluted continuity.  That’s what brings us here today, a look at the various villains of the X-Men, the bad guys often sited as the best Marvel has ever made.  So, let’s get the full spectrum on the foes of the X-Men in all their shades, shames, and successes. 

Star Trek Beyond Trailer

In case my various previous articles weren’t enough of an indicator I am a massive and unapologetic Star Trek fan.  I was first introduced to the franchise through the serviceable if not terribly great 2009 reboot movie but since then I’ve made my way through all the films, nearly all the shows (still not done with Enterprise,) Star Trek: Online, and several interesting EU novels.  However, being a fan is a double edged sword because it means I’ve developed a sense of what I want Star Trek to be, a definition informed more by my own personal likes and ideas about the various series rather than strict adherence to canon.  For instance, I think Star Trek should be driven by character drama and emotion above all else but that doesn’t change the fact the original series was predominately informed by setting up occasions for flights of insanity, wrestling, sword fights, and laser battles. 

So going into the trailer for Star Trek Beyond I’m more than a little hesitant to jump on the proclamations of whether this IS or ISN’T Star Trek.  After all, my own definitions of what Star Trek IS have changed significantly over my time as a fan so it’s not like there’s a hard and firm definition and at the same time the question of definition is ultimately secondary to the question of quality.  So, while I will talk about the Trekkiness of this trailer eventually for now my question is; is it any good, to which the answer is a resounding “not really.”

Independence Day: Resurgence Trailer

The odd thing about movies being something that’s enjoyed by a wide age group is that while some trends represent genuine progress forward and new tastes nostalgia from the recently moneyed ends up an equally if not more powerful market force.  That particular truth is why the 2010s have ended up such a breeding ground for ‘90s nostalgia, or ‘90stalgia as I lovingly call it.  X-Files is back, Jurassic Park is back, Godzilla is back, Power Rangers is on the way, and now we’ve got the first trailer for the triumphant return of possibly the most important ‘90s blockbuster ever made Independence Day. 

Static Thoughts - Jack of All Trades

This has been a very strange but good year for nerdy comebacks, but none stranger than Ash vs. Evil Dead.  Ash vs. Evil Dead is a TV show sequel to the cult classic film series by movie geek turned blockbuster hit maker Sam Raimi.  The fact that Ash vs. Evil Dead exists at all is a miracle given that it’s a big budget premium show made out of a no-budget 1981 horror flick but the fact that’s it’s actually really good seems like some kind of masterful alchemy or magic.  A big part of its charm definitely lies with Bruce Campbell, lord of sleaze and cheese whose career also started with the original Evil Dead.  What’s impressive and still kind of shows through is that Campbell wasn’t really an actor pre-Evil Dead, just a friend that director Sam Raimi got to star in the movie. 

That friendship has always proved strong and lucrative for both men, so in the ‘90s when Raimi hit it big as a TV producer with shows like Xena and Hercules he decided to give his old friend Bruce another shot with the starring role in a historical comedy called Jack of All Trades.  Now that Bruce Campbell is back in a leading role on our televisions and his place in our collective hearts has been reaffirmed I figure it’s a good time to look back on Jack of All Trades. 

Who Is Cate Blanchett in Thor: Ragnarok?

At time of writing Marvel studios is entering into their much vaunted phase 3 with…less than a full deck of cards, to put it delicately.  The Marvel brand is still a pretty unassailable seal of financial success but its standard as a seal of quality and, most of all, audience interest has become decidedly tarnished in the 3 years since Avengers cemented them as the entertainment kings of the 2010s.  There have been some major cultural hits like Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant Man, and Winter Soldier has done a lot to cement Captain America as THE superhero of this moment in time, much like Spider-Man in 2001, Batman in 1989, or Superman in 1978.  Additionally they’ve finally managed to make some in roads on the issues of diversity that’ve been dogging their brand for awhile thanks to the twin hits of Agent Carter and Jessica Jones. 

Unfortunately, a pretty heft bundle of disposable, forgotten, or underwhelming and underperforming entries have also blighted the Marvel stable.  Stuff like Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., have all done a serious number on the Marvel brand and losing out key box office battles to rival franchises like Jurassic World and Hunger Games has definitely not helped.  The crowning example of the tarnished Marvel star would have to be Thor: The Dark World, the lackluster and underperforming sequel to one of Marvel’s greatest successes of phase 1. 

X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

Is it weird to say I don’t get the appeal of the X-Men movies?  X-Men is something that has been with me for basically my entire life as a nerd.  When I was a kid growing up in the ‘90s the animated series was in its heyday, I’ve seen all of the live action films at their premiere, watched X-Men: Evolution when it was coming out weekly, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Claremont, Kirby, and Morrison comic runs on the characters.  In my whole life there consuming and critiquing nerd culture content there really hasn’t been anything as continual as the X-Men and yet I’d never call myself a legitimate fan.

 A lot of that has to do with the X-Men’s status quo always coming off far too barebones and uninspired, in the sense that it’s considered some brilliantly cerebral superhero riff even though the subtext rarely factors into the actual story and the status quo is less about a clash of ideologies than it is just about having ideologies that have been arbitrarily assigned good and evil status.  That whole sort of “good enough” aesthetic has always translated over to the X-Men films to and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see some of it in the newly dropped trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Trailer

The 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes movie was awful, let’s get those cards on the table right here at the start.  I did a full review of the film at the time but I get the sense in the time sense it came out there’s been a tendency by most to mellow on its awfulness.  More and more the defense I hear from people is “it’s for kids and it’s not that bad aside from the changes,” to which I say: no, it is exactly that bad.  I’m not even really a fan of the Ninja Turtles so much as a thoroughly concerned observer and even I know the movie is terrible, mainly because it insults you with every chance it gets. 

Seriously, the writing in the film is so incredibly broken and incompetent that the finale is hinged on a call-back to something that was never established in the first place.  The movie is essentially a first draft that received no polish under the assumption people wouldn’t care.  However, it made a whole lot of money at the box office so now we’re getting a sequel just a scant 2 years after the original, pretty much the same approach as the Amazing Spider-Man franchise that the new TMNT draws so heavily from.  Now we’ve got the first trailer for that new film entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and surprise; it doesn’t look that bad.

Panel Vision - Flash Rogues Guide

So, this latest Flash episode featured the first major super villain team-up of the show.  This is something that’s been building for Flash for a long time, mainly because in the comics Flash’s bad guys work together all the time.  Villain team-ups have always been a special event within comics but the Flash’s foes, nicknamed the Rogues, have always been unique amongst them.  Part of this comes from most of the Rogues having low level powers, compared to how indomitable Flash’s super speed powers are.  Really though, what binds the Rogues together is that they’re unique amongst comic book villains.  Most bad guys are psychotic killers like Batman fights or megalomaniacs like Superman battles, the Rogues are all just common criminals, crooks trying to get by.  Given that Flash is dedicated to slowly introducing more and more of the Rogues, I figured now would be a good time to do a Guide to the Flash’s Rogues. 

The Legend of Tarzan Trailer

I’m honestly not sure what to make of the trailer for Legend of Tarzan.  The fact that we’re getting a big budget Tarzan movie isn’t, in and of itself, surprising as it actually conforms to a lot of trends that are dominating the modern blockbuster scene.  What is shocking is that we’re getting this big budget Tarzan movie, produced in the strangest manner by some of the strangest people.  I’ll get more in depth on this as the article goes on but as it stands I have no idea why this movie is happening or what series of events might’ve conspired to force it into existence, it’s like this movie was conceived specifically to vex me. 

Static Thoughts - The Doomsday Sanction

So, Batman v. Superman’s latest trailer has revealed the major plot point that Doomsday, the monster who killed Superman, will be the film’s ultimate boss.  For my part this isn’t that surprising a reveal, I’ve been hearing rumors Doomsday would pop up in the film for awhile now.  At the same time, it’s pretty clear the execs running the DC/WB branch are the same ones who helmed things back in the ‘90s when The Death of Superman was the biggest moneymaker in the world for them so it fits they’d try and fit their new Superman movie to that template somehow, they did the same thing with Batman in Dark Knight Rises. 

What is surprising a lot of fans is the major shift to Doomsday’s origin in the film, now seemingly a mutation or GMO created out of the corpse of General Zod.  That’s a nifty idea and an easy solution to how incredibly convoluted and byzantine Doomsday’s comic book origin is, which is why this isn’t a look at the character’s history or even his biggest storylines.  I’ll probably talk about comic book Doomsday somewhere down the line but for right now I’m zeroing in on the first time Doomsday’s origin was altered to be the genetically modified superior Kryptonian: in Justice League Unlimited.

Panel Vision - Legend of the Hawkman

Previously on Panel Vision I discussed the 1989 comic Hawkworld, a dark, gritty reimagining of the Hawkman characters and mythos that was informed by the stylistic trends and affects of Judge Dredd, Bladerunner, and Soylent Green.  However, despite being critically well regarded and establishing a handful of still relevant things Hawkworld really didn’t leave that big a footprint on the comics landscape or Hawkman in particular.  It spawned an ongoing comic that lasted for a few years followed by a new Hawkman comic in 1993, which has been rightfully forgotten by all good and descent comic fans, and then that was it. 

By 1997, when DC made a major shift in writers and series spearheaded by Grant Morrison’s relaunched Justice League of America comic, Hawkman had more or less passed on from continuity and would stay there for about 4 years.  In 2001, Hawkman returned with a back to basics look and a strained attempt to combine all the most popular elements of his mythos at the time.  Though interesting that Hawkman is pretty inhospitable to new comers, which is a shame given how much he incorporated from the Silver Age character while elevating the material through modern writing sensibilities.  Thankfully, in 2000 there was an exceptional mini-series that did just that: Legend of the Hawkman.

Comics Rainbow - Hulk

This past week saw the launch of the Totally Awesome Hulk.  This new iteration of Marvel’s Gamma powered behemoth will be a departure from mainstay Bruce Banner for his previous supporting character Amadeus Cho.  Switching up the Hulk’s mechanics and identity are hardly new, I’ve already burned through the incredibly massive list of gamma powered beings in the Marvel universe in case you need proof of that, but the Hulk himself has gone through a ton of variations as well.  Most folks know about the Gray Hulk but there are so many other insane and bizarre alterations to the Hulk’s history it’d be a shame not to showcase just how ridiculous Marvel got with this character, in all their shades, shames, and successes. 

Panel Vision - Hawkworld

So, once again Hawkman has come stumbling into the world of DC live action television, this time through the lens of the CWniverse and its lead up to Legends of Tomorrow rather than his previous one-off appearance on Smallville.  Hawkman’s one of those weird comic book characters like the Fantastic Four or Green Lantern in that he’s been around for a long time but every time people try and slot him into a live action context it tends to end in disaster.  

In Hawkman’s case he kind of has a greater excuse than most given that his origin and history don’t even begin to make sense.  Seriously, I initially planned this as a “history of” article but the history of Hawkman is so needlessly convoluted and full of retcons and revisions not even I can really follow it.  Case in point: even though the latest version of the character seen on CW is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince the version I’m spotlighting for this review is an alien police man.

Panel Vision - Jessica Jones Season 2, What To Expect

So, Jessica Jones seems to be a bona fide hit with audiences, a major success that’s earned Marvel all kinds of critical acclaim and plenty of audience accolades as well.  It’s a major win for Marvel Studios, another example of how well they can convert obscure properties into crowd-pleasing hits while also proving just how dark, complex, and adult the Marvel universe is willing to be.  With all that said and considering it’s been a week since the show’s premiere I think it’s time to start talking about Jessica Jones season 2. 

That might seem a little premature but by comparison Daredevil had its second season confirmed after only 11 days so it doesn’t strike me as too early at all.  Now, as this post is going to be discussing what could come next I’m going to have to dig deep into what’s already happened so this article will contain spoilers.  If that’s a problem for you don’t read ahead, instead go watch the show, it’s excellent. 

Cover Story - Top 13 Strangest Sports Story Covers

So, at the time of writing Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is blowing up theaters with its only major competition the quickly rising star of the boxing film Creed, a spin-off/follow-up to the Rocky franchise.  The fact that November is being essentially dominated by sports films (wasn’t there a James Bond movie this month? Does anyone remember that?) isn’t really a surprise but it does leave me in sort of a rut covers wise.  There are plenty of sports based comics, mainly from the ‘50s when superheroes didn’t dominate the medium, but they’re all pretty generic.  However, in the ‘60s when Marvel comics was born and fundamentally changed the comics landscape forever something strange started happening. 

In an attempt to compete horizontally with Marvel DC started producing stranger iterations of its ’50s comic line.  Now fundamental characters like Flash, Adam Strange, and Martian Manhunter emerged from an attempt to reintegrate superheroes into the weird science books that had been DC’s stock and trade for so long.  DC also applied this idea to the all purpose manly adventures they published like cowboys, war stories, and sports.  So, in 1963 the quasi-brand of Strange Sports Stories was born.  It didn’t last long at the time but DC has always sort of obsessed over it, even resurrecting the brand in the ‘70s and in recent years. 

Panel Vision - Comic Book Presidents

In case you aren’t one of my American readers, and I know you exist thanks to blogger’s analytics page, we over here in the states are currently in the midst of a fairly crazy presidential election build up.  We haven’t started the primaries yet but they’re looming ever closer and it’s been a wild ride punctuated by a slew of hilariously awful Republican candidates and the still ludicrous convolution of the Democratic leads.  I’ve already released a number of articles capitalizing on this particular election cycle so here’s another one because if you think the real life candidates are insane…well you’re right but here are a bunch of completely weird and out there superheroes and villains who somehow managed to take the highest office in the land against the better judgment of the electorate and editors everywhere.

Comics Rainbow - Captain America

Where do you start with a character like Captain America?  Originally created by legends of the medium Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Captain America is one of the longest running comic characters ever conceived, standing proudly alongside Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as one of the few heroes whose been part of the genre since its inception in the late ‘30s.  After a brief absence in the ‘50s followed by reintroduction into the burgeoning canon of Marvel comics Captain America has become one of the most dynamic and compelling heroes in the entire genre.  He’s been through innumerable changes in his epically long history and in recent years come to be almost the face of the superhero genre in a way that no one could’ve predicted. 

For decades the hero people thought of when they considered the iconic hero was Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, even Iron Man for a hot minute there in 2008 but now, at this moment in time, it’s hard to think of a superhero who better embodies the genre and the reason for its continued success and relevance.  And with his new film Civil War continuing that trend and having it’s trailer drop I’ve decided to look back over the full history of Captain America, in all it’s shades, shames, and successes.   

Captain America: Civil War Teaser

Let’s not drag this out.  Captain America: Civil War is the 3^rd film in the Captain America series and will be the 13 Marvel Studios film overall.  Picking up in the wake of Avengers: Age of Ultron it follows the new team of Avengers led by Captain America and backed financially and logistically by Tony Stark who’s adopted quasi-retirement.  The film swirls around an international incident that causes the world governments to question the necessity of the Avengers overall and, at the very least, how smart it is to allow them to run around completely unsupervised leading to legislation to bring the heroes under the control of the government.  The decision brings a split between heroes as Iron Man supports the decision while Captain America opposes it owing largely to its impact and relation to his lost friend and comrade Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier.  The division splits the heroes down the middle all while sinister forces seek to manipulate the situation and now it has a trailer and it’s great.

Legends of Tomorrow 2nd Full Trailer

Legends of Tomorrow is the next step in the amazing experiment that is CW’s shared DC Comics TV universe.  This ambitious project had a difficult infancy, struggling through a pretty rocky start with the first couple seasons of Arrow as little more than a Batman knock-off.  Then Flash happened and it was poor to mediocre at first, right up until CW hosted its first crossover episodes and found they could get a winning combination of sitcom antics, melodrama, and comic book action.  Since then both Flash and Arrow have improved immensely, embracing a broader and more accepting view of the DC comic universe where pretty much anything from the comics is free game to adapt to TV. 

So far Flash’s first season and a half alone have featured time travel, psychic apes, the speed force, and parallel realities while Arrow has branched out to include Ras Al Ghul, the Lazarus Pit, and Magic.  Now, with Legends of Tomorrow CW looks to reinvent the superhero wheel once more with their own Justice League.  Now, after a bit of a reshuffle owing to the departure of Robbie Amell’s Firestorm and CW wanting Legends of Tomorrow to run longer than intended, we’ve got our first trailer for DC’s first live action multi-hero team-up and it looks amazing.

Is Scott Adkins Our Iron Fist?

As 2015 has dragged on one thing has become abundantly clear: Marvel Studio’s future in phase 3 is far less certain than anybody really expected.  More and more the little studio that could has turned into the big studio that can’t seem to get out of its own way.  Marvel’s phase 2 has had some major financial success certainly but culturally the studio has only gotten more scattershot and less solid at predicting what, among its many properties, will be a legitimate smash with audiences or just make a lot of money.  Sure Iron Man 3 was a major financial success but it’s not like anyone is genuinely interested in diving deeper into the Mandarin, AIM, or Extremis any time soon.  The same way Age of Ultron broke all kinds of records but spent the summer getting stomped on at the box office and in the popular consciousness by Jurassic World. 

Meanwhile, less studio involved projects like Ant-Man, Daredevil, Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, and chief of all Captain America: Winter Soldier have found major traction with audiences.  All of this has made Marvel’s upcoming “phase 3” a much shakier and more uncertain place for the once untouchable kings of pop culture.  That their films will still gross solid returns is without question but the lingering issue of “will people still be talking about Marvel in the year 2020” has only become more and more prevalent.  Turns out you can’t sustain cultural impact through cross genre-continuity alone but damned if they aren’t going to try because it looks like Marvel has decided to add another hero to Dr. Strange in the form of Scott Adkins as Iron Fist.

1st Photos From Wonder Woman

So far, this year has been a pretty great time for female representation in geek media.  Supergirl had massive popular success and is easily the most successful the Superman franchise has been since the 1996 animated series, Mad Max: Fury Road gave us Furiosa, one of the all time most bad ass women ever, Jessica Jones is making major waves on Netflix, Agent Carter found a small but dedicated fan base, Hunger Games’ finished its series run, and in the world of comics we got hit new series like Prez, Paper Girls, Jem & The Holograms, Devil Dinosaur & Moon Girl, Spider-Gwen, and the continuing success of Ms. Marvel.  

In the midst of this expanding openness towards female characters in traditionally male dominated spaces it makes sense that Wonder Woman is on the cusp of returning to live action, first next year in Batman v. Superman and then in her own movie in 2017.  Now, we’ve got the first pictures of Wonder Woman from her upcoming movie and she looks amazing.

Panel Vision - History of Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters

Over this last weekend Amazon released an original blockbuster streaming series entitled Man in the High Castle, an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story of the same name about an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War 2.  I haven’t watched it yet but I’ve heard a lot of good things so far and I’m already a pretty big fan of alternate histories in general.  However, alternate histories are actually pretty rare outside of literature.  There are plenty of historical farces but as far as alternate futures crafted by changes in history that’s actually pretty rare and the ones there are usually come from comic books.  

Which leads us to today’s subject, the most enduring and popular alternate history in comic books, the world of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters.  The heroes of an alternate timeline entitled Earth-10, Uncle Sam and his Freedom Fighters live in a world where President Roosevelt suffered a fatal heart attack at the height of World War 2 and the resulting instability cost the allies the war.  Now working in the underground Uncle Sam leads a small team of super heroes in a never-ending insurrection against the Axis Empire.