6 Actors Who Should Play Nightwing

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By now you’ve probably seen the LEGO Batman movie, especially if the box office reports are to be believed.  It’s a monster success, a second major hit for WB’s LEGO brand, and pretty much the first major win for a Batman adaptation since Arkham City back in 2011.  We’re probably going to see a ton of takeaways from this endeavor on what’s required to make a good LEGO movie, but the more important one for superhero fans is what message this flick sends about making Batman films.  The heart of LEGO Batman is to embrace the extended Batman family and a lighter, funnier take on the hero and it seems pretty clear WB has heard received that message as they’ve already tapped the director, Chris McKay, to direct a Nightwing movie. 

For those who don’t know, Nightwing was the identity adopted by an adult version of the first Robin, Dick Grayson, after he stopped being Batman’s sidekick and branched out on his own.  Given that this movie’s now entered DC’s sites I figured it’d be fun to have a look at all the interesting and compelling actors who could and should play Dick Grayson before they announce some mediocre white guy none of us have heard of. 

5 DC Films That Might Join Justice League 2 in 2019

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Edited by Robert Beach

On Tuesday, I talked about movies DC had already announced we might see in their open slot in October 2018. Today, I set my sights even further forward to the fall of 2019 where DC has another unclaimed movie slot for November 1^st.  Given how far out that movie is, it’s a lot less likely to be tied up with the various pre-announced films or tied to the recent crop of DC movies. 

Even though WB isn’t working to Marvel’s “phase” scheduling system, they are subconsciously structuring their films in groups of set-up with every movie from now to the end of 2018 spinning out of Man of Steel. 2019 looks to be the start of something new for WB with movies like Shazam and Green Lantern Corp on the horizon. As such, whatever film we’re getting in 2019 will probably be a new feature, something removed from the current crop of DC features. 

Lego Batman Trailer Round-Up

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Edited by Robert Beach

One of the peculiar twists of fate in the modern era of superhero media is that despite DC Comics many, many terrible adaptations in the 2010s, their animated adaptations are incredible.  Seriously, Teen Titans Go is the sharpest superhero satire ever; Young Justice was a milestone hit; Batman: The Brave and the Bold was incredible, and the Green Lantern CGI show almost redeemed the franchise. Now, they’re making a new Adam West animated adventure. 

The real gem in DC’s animated crown, however, has to be Lego Batman, voiced by Will Arnett and ushered into our collective hearts through 2014’s breakout hit The Lego Movie. Arnett is honestly the best Batman of the 2010s, a brutal scathing takedown of the overly macho psycho-thug Batman that dominated the character’s identity from 2008 to about 2013. Now, Lego Batman is getting his movie, and it looks amazing.  

Cover Story - Top 15 Batman/Superman Covers

Edited by Robert Beach

So, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out today, or at least, I assume it did. I’m actually writing this the Tuesday before its release, so it’s completely possible some random calamity befell the intended release date. Somehow I kind of doubt it. By the time this goes up, I’ll most likely have already seen it. For now, I’m eagerly awaiting its release like the rest of us, so let’s talk about comic books instead, specifically some Batman and Superman comics. 

Because Batman and Superman were DC’s biggest success stories for decades and decades, the two eventually ended up in a long-running comic together entitled World’s Finest. World’s Finest was a weird amalgam of elements owing mainly to the fact that it originally began in the late Golden Age and then continuing through to the early Bronze Age of comics. As such, we’ve got some really crazy comic covers to get through. Now it's time to dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on World’s Finest.

Panel Vision - Thrillkiller

Edited by Robert Beach

It’s time once more for everyone’s favorite genre of Panel Vision: topical oddities. One of the curious attempts by modern TV to remain relevant in an era of streaming and binge watches has been a revival of live performances. This has seen a mixed bag of success and interest, but last weekend, the format saw a fairly major success when NBC produced a live performance of Grease.  I don’t really care for Grease myself, though the production did give me cause to remember a very good Elseworlds comic that DC produced called Thrillkiller.

 In case you’ve never heard of them before, Elseworlds were an imprint of DC comics that re-imagined classic characters in situation that couldn’t fit into standard continuity. They’d take a character like Superman and show us what might’ve happened if he had landed in Soviet Russia or Gotham City instead of Kansas.  Thrillkiller, written by comics legend Howard Chaykin and illustrated by the eclectic but striking Daniel Brereton, takes the familiar Batman mythos and drops right in the middle of 1961. 

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.”

Comics Rainbow - Batman Family

So, this past week Gotham revealed the central mystery around its new villain Theo Galavan.  The “big reveal” of was that Galavan was actually a radical revision of the Batman supporting hero Azrael and the Order of Saint Dumas, now reimagined as a disgraced Gotham family returning to seek revenge on the Waynes.  It’s a pretty dumb idea that got me thinking about how much I hate Gotham, but also how much I love Azrael and Batman’s extended roster of fellow heroes.  Batman has one of the largest rosters of supporting heroes out there and the idea of Batman working alongside other heroes has been furrowed into the character almost since the beginning.  As much as people like to believe Batman is a deadly lone squirrel he’s definitely a pack animal, as best demonstrated by the major success enjoyed by both the Bat Family comic line and the Brave and the Bold comics and shows that paired him with fellow heroes.  So, this is your full spectrum look at the Batman Family in all their shades, shames, and successes.  

Titans Hunt #1 Review

The Teen Titans are back...in the most disappointing and unimpressive way possible, I review Titans Hunt in full over on All-Comic:

http://all-comic.com/2015/titans-hunt-1/

Grayson Annual #2 Review

I look at the incredibly excellent Grayson Annual #2 that stands tall as an example of everything the DC You could be, check it out over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/02/grayson-annual-2-review-comics/

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.