Burning Fields #8 Review

I use the climax of BOOM! Studios' Burning Fields to give an overview of this deceptive and well written series, see it over on Front Towards Gamer:
 http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/29/burning-fields-8-review-comics/

Doctor Who - Witch's Familiar Review

I take a look at the serious ups and downs of Doctor Who Season 9's 2-part opening with Witch's Familiar, see it over on Front Towards Gamer: http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/29/doctor-who-witchs-familiar-review-tv/

Movie Monthly - Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.

And so we come to the end of another Movie Monthly, this month a bit more sparse and transitional than I might’ve hoped it’d be.  Next month things will ideally run a bit more smoothly but at the very least I can say I achieved my central goal of this month by getting to today’s film.  At the start of September in Time and Space I said the reason I chose time travel for this month was to celebrate the return of Doctor Who to television, today I celebrate Doctor Who’s rich film history with Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., a film so nice they named it thrice.  Also yes, you read that sentence correctly; this is a Doctor Who feature length film, one of two produced by a major American studio in the mid ‘60s.  How?  Why?  Is it any good? Let’s dive in. 

Panel Vision - Top 13 Guardians of the Galaxy Covers

A little late I know but in my defense I was very drunk this weekend.  So, in case you haven’t heard, Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge hit last year.  Chances are you probably knew that, what you might not know is that Disney/Marvel is actually looking to capitalize on this success in a more meaningful way than usual by giving the Guardians an animated series.  The show premiered on Saturday and it’s…harmless.  The Disney television animation studio’s seen better days certainly but if you were hoping recent hits like Gravity Falls or Stars vs. The Forces of Evil might signal an uptick in quality temper those expectations. 

However, this recent twist of fate is all the excuse I need to showcase the best Guardians of the Galaxy comic covers…of the original team.  Yeah, little known fact but the original Guardians of the Galaxy are a team of genetically altered humanoids and aliens who act as the last resistance of a far flung future where humanity and most of the galaxy has been crushed under the heal of villainous lizard men known as Badoon.  They appeared briefly in the well remembered Korvac Saga and enjoyed a surprisingly long lived solo series, that’s what I’ll be drawing from for this extra large list.

Astro City #27 Review

I take a look at the latest issue of Astro City in my review that Kurt Busiek doesn't want you to see (I assume he doesn't anyway, he tweeted about something about it I am told) check it out over on All-Comic.com http://all-comic.com/2015/astro-city-27/

Nameless #5 Review

I look at the latest issue of famed author Grant Morrison's out there Image Comic series Nameless over on All-Comic.com: http://all-comic.com/2015/nameless-5/

Gotham - Damned If You Do... Review

I give a very angry critique of the truly awful Gotham Season 2 Premiere, check it out over on Front Towards Gamer: http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/24/gotham-damned-if-you-do-review-tv/

7 Films That Could Use A Female-Led Reboot

I've got another listicle up for the fine folks at Laser Time Podcast, this time going through all the movies I think could really benefit from a female-led reboot ala Ghostbusters & Roadhouse, read the full article here:

http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2015/09/23/7-films-that-could-use-a-female-led-reboot/

Doctor Who - Magician's Apprentice Review

I'm resuming my ongoing review series of Doctor Who over on Front Towards Gamer, starting with Sunday's premiere episode The Magician's Apprentice, check it out here

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/22/doctor-who-magicians-apprentice-review-tv/

Week of Review - Beware The Batman

And so we come to the end of the first ever Week of Review and the final time Batman was on TV prior to Gotham.  If you’re interested in my thoughts on Gotham I already reviewed the entire first season and will be reviewing the premiere as well all for Front Towards Gamer so just follow the link right here.  For now, however, we’ll be focusing on the shockingly short-lived CGI Batman show from 2013 Beware the Batman.  In 2013 Batman: The Brave and the Bold had been off the air for about 2 years after the disastrous year of 2011.  While 2008 had redefined the superhero landscape 2011 showed that this wasn’t going to be a static game as DC saw its dominate market share slip with the awful Green Lantern and realized that there was legitimate competition thanks to smash hits like Thor and X-Men: First Class. 

More than anything, 2011 was the year that sent DC/WB scurrying back to the safety of the Batman umbrella and confirmed to them the importance of sticking with dark, brooding, quasi-realistic heroes.  By 2013, they’d more or less expended that particular capital in films with Dark Knight Rises concluding the Nolan Batman trilogy the year before so the decision was to pull the lighter and more accessible Green Lantern: The Animated Series and replace it with a dark, brooding new Batman show; Beware the Batman.

 

Movie Monthly - Project Almanac

Previously in Movie Monthly I’ve stated my serious affection for found footage films.  However, I do realize this particular claim needs a bit of clarity.  When I say I like found footage films what I really mean is that I like found footage horror movies, mainly because the horror genre has a lot of interesting and engaging subgenre and elements that rarely get explored because they aren’t considered profitable.  So, if dressing up your Bigfoot horror movie in the clothes of a found footage flick both as a cost cutting measure and a way to convince investors and audiences this is a film worth their time I’m all for it (don’t worry, we’ll get to the Bigfoot films another time.)  However, I am aware that found footage horror isn’t the only aspect of this particular formatting tool in existence, there’s also the far less often employed Sci-Fi found footage film like Chronicle or today’s offering Project Almanac.  

Static Thoughts - Black Mirror, Good Episodes

So, I’m not exactly sure who reads this blog but on the off chance you aren’t clued up on world politics here’s a quick recap: the world has gone completely and comically insane.   I don’t have time to cover the massive cavalcade of political shenanigans that have turned our world from one of sane rationality into a nightmarish, Twilight Zone-esc re-imagining of every political satire script the ‘70s chose not to publish.  However, the latest cherry on the sundae of insanity was the revelation that British Prime Minister David Cameron had stuck his junk in the mouth of a dead pig in order to gain access to the college society that served as his entrance to the world of politics.  This is the kind of incredibly stupid, incredibly embarrassing, instantly mockable story the Internet never dreamed of getting its hands on, except for one man who saw it coming: Charlie Booker, writer and developer of the British dark Sci-Fi show Black Mirror.

The Paybacks #1 Review

The Paybacks is a great new comedy superhero comic from Darkhorse by Donny Cates, the guy behind Ghostfleet, the best comic of the year, check out my review of issue #1 over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/19/the-paybacks-1-review-comics/

Captain America - White #1 Review

I turn my wrath on the terribly named Captain America - White #1, a comic we didn't need from an author who can't really write about a subject we've already seen done to death, check it out over on Front Towards Gamer

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/19/captain-america-white-1-review-comics/

Armor Wars #5 Review

My exasperation with Marvel's Secret Wars event and the growing trend of Marvel forcing the comics into a movie shaped position comes to a head in my review of Armor Wars #5, over on All-Comic
 

http://all-comic.com/2015/armor-wars-5/

Week of Review - Batman: The Brave and The Bold

In the history of Batman the character has had three major flashpoints wherein he achieved mainstream prevalence and wide scale importance.  The first was in 1966 with the Adam West TV show, the second was in 1989 with Tim Burton’s Batman, and the third was in 2008 with the release of Dark Knight.  I’ve often referred to the 4 year period from 2007-2010 as the definitive years of the 2010s and the explosion of popularity Batman enjoyed over that period is integral to understanding the superhero dominated landscape that we now live in.  Obviously enough Batman had been present outside the comics in the previous years of the 2000s be it through the Justice League show or his The Batman cartoon but 2008 brought Batman to a mass audience like never before.  Dark Knight represented a moment of transcendence for Batman in a way he never really achieved in the mainstream before; it was the moment people realized Batman didn’t have to be meaningless. 

Batman ’89 and Dark Knight Returns had established Batman wasn’t just for kids but Dark Knight showed the entire world that you could tell a Batman story that was driven by a defining ethos and ideology with a point behind it.  Couple that with the success of Iron Man’s winning combination of fidelity, continuity, and character introspection and the ensuing cocktail of geek cinema in 2008 basically set the stage for everything that would come after.  So, when DC chose to capitalize on this success with a new Batman cartoon it only makes sense they’d go lighter and more kid friendly than ever before.  

Static Thoughts - Doctor Who Ranking

Edited by Robert Beach 

It’s Doctor Who time again with the show returning for its 9^th season under the new series banner.  This will be the second outing for 12^th Doctor Peter Capaldi and the final season for companion Jenna Coleman. At the time of writing, I haven’t watched the premiere, but all noises are pretty good, so I guess we’ll see.

Last season was intermittently decent, so I’m moderately hopeful about this latest season of England’s longest running show. So to mark the occasion, I came up with my list of the best Doctors, because this is the Internet and list making is what we do.  Here we go, every actor to have played the Doctor ranked from top to bottom. 

First Image of Supergirl's Red Tornado

Edited by Robert Beach 

As some of you hopefully gleaned from the title of this article, there’s a Supergirl TV show currently in the works from the people at CBS. I’m not exactly sure why the show is being developed by CBS instead of CW, but it’s best not to get too caught up in these things and just accept DC comics TV rights are spread across all of TV for no real reason. 

What I do know is that the show will be adapting other DC heroes beyond just Supergirl as part of its supporting cast. The only hero yet confirmed is Red Tornado, played by Iddo Goldberg of Salem fame, and today we got our first look at him. Goldberg will also be playing super scientist and super villain T.O. Morrow, the man who invented Red Tornado in the comics, though the hows and whys of that particular casting have yet to be revealed.

Week of Review - The Batman

Edited by Robert Beach

By the mid-2000s, the superhero multimedia landscape had decidedly reversed fortunes. DC was still dominating the television landscape with monster hits like Smallville and the twin animated powerhouses of Justice League and Teen Titans; however, in the world of film, Marvel had more or less supplanted DC’s previously held stranglehold on the superhero genre. After Batman & Robin’s major failure, DC had spent nearly 7 years rebuilding its brand image while Marvel had cranked out adaptation after adaptation. By the year 2004, we had Blade 1 through 3, X-Men 1 and 2, Spider-Man 1 and 2, The Punisher, Hulk,and then Daredevil, Elektra, and Fantastic Four waiting in the wings. 

By this point, it was obvious the superhero genre was not only back from the dead, but it was enjoying an unprecedented boom in adaptation and success. Quite surreptitiously, DC began plans to reintroduce their most successful hero back to the big screen. Plans that culminated in 2005’s Batman Begins. Before that, DC first worked to get Batman back on TV in his own solo show, and thus we got The Batman. 

Week of Review - Birds of Prey

Edited by Robert Beach

Yesterday, I talked about one of DC/WB’s more successful endeavors to preserve their television presence into the 21^st century; today, I’m focusing on a less successful example. Before we discuss Birds of Prey and what I think of it, we’ve got to go back and talk about a little show from 1997 known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer took the world by storm in 1997 with its winning combination of genre tropes and aesthetics and girl power. Buffy was the last of the popular genre trinity that had started with Star Trek: The Next Generation in ’89 and been cemented by The X-Files in ’93. 

There had been plenty of genre shows before like the original Star Trek in the ‘60s, 6 Million Dollar Man in the ‘70s, and V in the ‘80s, but these three shows demonstrated there was a chance for widespread, mainstream appeal within previously geek genre markets. When DC decided to re-enter the realm of TV after the conclusion of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1997, they decided to stick with the Buffy aesthetic, which is how we got Smallville. With Smallville’s success, WB wanted to create a sister show that was more female centric as they’d had a lot of success from that mold with Charmed. In 2002, they created The Birds of Prey, one of my all time favorite superhero shows. 

Week of Review - Batman Beyond

Edited by Robert Beach

In 1999, DC and WB were staring down what could’ve been the end of their television dominance. Throughout the ‘90s, they had dominated awards shows and ratings with hits like Batman the animated series and the Superman show; a powerhouse combination that was easily able to compete with Marvel’s plethora of animated offerings at the time. As the ‘90s dwindled and both Batman and Superman capped off their individual runs, DC needed a new way to stay in the television game and maintain their grip on the cultural landscape. 

It’s worth remembering this comes 2 years after Batman & Robin basically torpedo DC’s movie holdings and only 1 year after Blade burst onto the scene to prove Marvel had movie capital to expend as well. DC set out on a number of attempts to reassert themselves. They produced the Gotham Girls web series I touched on a couple days ago and eventually settled into their epic Justice League series while on the live-action side they produced Smallville in 2001; however, the first of these attempts came in 1999 with Batman Beyond. 

Panel Vision - DC Universe Decisions

Edited by Robert Beach

In case you don’t live in the US, we’re in the midst of gearing up for one of the most overblown and ludicrous election cycles in recent memory. To be fair, the last 2 US Presidential elections have been fairly larger than life in their own way. In 2012, the election was dominated by the heroic confluence of Mitt Romney memes and jokes, and in 2008 the whole world seemed to have caught Obama fever. That latter one is also probably owed to the election falling smack dab in the middle of 4 years of major technological and cultural upheaval. 

At the time, stuff like Facebook and iPhones were supremely new and the crossover of Internet culture into mainstream culture was in its earliest stages. Combine that with the introduction of an all-new Presidential administration ushering in a new political ethos and lexicon and everyone and their brother were desperate to link themselves to the election in some way. As you’d expect comics quickly got in on the act and none were more bizarre or embarrassing than today’s topic: DC Universe – Decisions.

Panel Vision - Truth: Red, White & Black

Edited by Robert Beach

So this week saw the release of Captain America – White, a stunningly dull Captain America comic with the sole notable feature of a really awkward title. Aside from the unpleasantness of specifically subtitling a Captain America comic “White,” especially when the main universe Captain America is a black man, the title also seems to be a direct allusions to Truth: Red, White & Black.  

The interior artwork also came off like a purposeful reference back to this 2003 limited series. I’m not sure what Jeph Loeb and his Marvel handlers hoped to achieve with this shout out, or it was meant to convey any deeper meaning. Regardless, it gave me a chance to talk about Truth: Red, White & Black. I’m jumping on that opportunity. 

Jungle Book Teaser Trailer

Edited by Robert Beach 

Just when you thought the up-jumped fairy tale trend was dead and buried, it’s back from the grave and honestly looking better than ever. I’m honestly not that surprised that it took the involvement of Disney to finally get something good out of this over-used genre. Back in the days before Star Wars made fantasy a viable blockbuster option, Disney was one of the only names in the game alongside Ray Haryhausen, and a lot of their live-action fantasy adventure films were incredibly well received. 

They’re forgotten nowadays, but films like Swiss Family Robinson and Bed Knobs and Broomsticks were major hits in their day. Additionally, Disney was pretty much the only company not to copy the Lord of the Rings approach to fantasy in the 2000s, blazing their own path with Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.  Even though Disney didn’t kick-off the fairy tale fantasy craze of the 2010s, they’ve thoroughly capitalized on it. And now they’re at it again with this first trailer for next year’s Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau.

Week of Review - Batman, The Animated Series

Edited by Robert Beach

In talking about Batman on TV there are essentially 2 shows you have to bring up. 2 shows that everyone, even none Batman fans, know about. The first one was the Adam West Batman show I talked about on Monday, and the other is today’s topic: Batman the animated series, even the very name of this series bares the weight of its importance. This isn’t just any Batman animated show; it’s THE animated series, and that’s forever how it will be known.

Name changes be damned, but we’ll get to that. In case you’ve somehow lived your life in blissful ignorance of this show, well, chances are you've probably been touched by it and didn’t even know it.  If you liked the Arkham video games, you have Batman the animated series to thank; if you liked Harley Quinn or Mr. Freeze, you have Batman the animated series to thank. Hell, if you’ve enjoyed any DC Comics animated adaptation or any of Mark Hammil’s post Star Wars work, you’ve got Batman the animated series to thank.  So, let’s discuss all its worst elements. 

Week of Review - Bat Bits

Edited by Robert Beach

Day 2 of our first Week of Review, folks, celebrate my continued dedication to a self-appointed task transcending the bounds of reasonability and self-preservation. If you missed the first installment and are thus literally adrift, here’s the deal: Week of Review is retrospective series where I spend 5-7 installments going over a bunch of entries in a given subject. This opening week’s topic is Batman on TV, building up to the Gotham season 2 premiere a week from yesterday. The first installment dealt with the massively popular Adam West Batman show from the ‘60s (the first major introduction to Batman that most people had).

Today, I’m covering the awkward 30-year gap between Batman ’66 and Batman the animated series.  There were animated Batman shows during this period, but none of them are really worth a full in-depth analysis. Additionally, I’ll be using this sequence to touch on Batman’s role in a few other DC series where he was prominently featured, yet the show wasn’t part of his mythos. Also, this article will be in list format because I refuse to limit Week of Review to a set format or structure for each installment.

Week of Review - Batman '66

Edited by Robert Beach

One week from now the Batman prequel show Gotham will be returning. I’ve talked about the show extensively before offering up no less than 3 different prediction articles about heroes, villains, and masterminds we might see coming in the new season.  Of course, Gotham isn’t the first time Batman has been on TV. He’s been featured in live-action and animated TV appearances for over nearly 50 years, and that’s what we’re here to talk about today.  

Welcome to Week of Review, a sort of mini-series I’ve foolishly elected to do. Basically, there are times when I have a large volume of topics to discuss in regards to an upcoming event, and I don’t want to choose just one to focus on. In the case of Gotham’s season 2 premiere, I’m going to spend the next 7 days talking about Batman’s numerous television shows in the past 60 years starting with the one that started it all: the Adam West Batman show. 

Movie Monthly - The Time Machine (2002)

Edited by Robert Beach 

Welcome back to Movie Monthly where we spend a whole month looking at movies of one particular theme. To celebrate the return of Doctor Who later this week, we’re dedicating September exclusively to time travel flicks. Even though this genre seems broad, there are actually very few worthwhile entries in it. We’ll be looking at the weirder portions of that spectrum starting with the time travel story that started it all…sort of. In 1895, H.G. Wells penned what is arguably the first major pop cultural time travel story with The Time Machine. 

It’s an interesting speculative future story that’s honestly more of a fantasy adventure tale than a sci-fi story, especially when compared to the heavy social commentary inherent to the works of Wells’ contemporary Jules Verne. Wells’ novel was a pop smash at the time that influenced a lot of future tales through its unique blend of sci-fi affectations with Victorian fantasy adventure. That was the same basic blend that would eventually inform Doctor Who. Given that pedigree, The Time Machine has been adapted multiple times including an excellent B-movie version from 1960 and today’s subject: a 2002 feature film starring Guy Pierce.  

 

Panel Vision - Top 10 Godzilla Covers

Edited by Robert Beach

Welcome back to my bi-weekly Saturday cover showcase. We’ll see if I’m committed enough to eventually give it less of a mouthful of a name. Sorry, September has been such a sketchy month for blog posts; hopefully, that will turn around in the latter half of the month, but I make no promises. You can still find my weekly work on All-Comic and Front Towards Gamer, and I’ll still be getting pieces out like this one. 

With that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, Godzilla, where to begin?  In case you’ve somehow avoided one of the largest figures in nerd culture, Godzilla is a giant monster lizard who birthed the Kaiju subgenre of Sci-Fi/Horror films. He’s been around for over 50 years, is the King of the Monsters, and is incredibly awesome. Godzilla’s also appeared on numerous comic covers over the years, and this Saturday we honor him.  

Renew Your Vows #5 Review

My review of the final issue of the incredibly frustrating and infuriating Renew Your Vows tie-in comic to Secret Wars over on All-Comic.com, check it out here
http://all-comic.com/2015/renew-vows-5/

10 More Amiibo They Should Totally Make For Smash Brothers

I will occasionally submit articles to the guys at the Laser Time podcast and this is my second published one about Amiibos they should totally make, you wouldn't believe the number of characters who had to get unfortunately cut from this list, check it out here:

http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2015/09/10/10-more-amiibo-they-should-totally-make-for-smash-brothers/