Chantal Thuy Cast as Grace Choi

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As we continue the slow crawl toward Black Lightning, we’ve started to get a trickle of information about the additional superheroes that will pepper the show.  That’s basically just par for the course of CW superhero shows at this point- single hero shows are out the window and everything now will have a rotating cast of supporting heroes.  Now I'm in favor of this practice, it helps keep things interesting and at an appreciably grand level now that single hero stories have become the bread and butter of the Hollywood hit machine.  

In an age of The Avenger and Justice League selling a whole superhero show on 1 masked crime fighter has become kind of passe.   In the case of Black Lightning, the show already had 2 additional superheroes at the starting track in the form of Black Lightning’s daughters Thunder and Lightning.  Now, the show has reached out to add its first additional hero outside of that immediate family unit with Grace Choi, who will be played by Chantal Thuy. 

Week of Review - Generation X

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In 1991 ­X-Men volume 2 #1 came out and became the highest selling single issue of all time.  It was a huge milestone for Marvel comics as well as the entire decade, cementing the ‘90s as a time for comic book opulence and speculator driven sales.  More pertinently, it was the comic that launched the X-Men from a popular franchise into a moneymaking juggernaut that would dominate the next half of the decade.  Within a year Marvel had partnered with Fox to produce X-Men the animated series and its toy line, one of the most successful brand exercises in the entire superhero genre. 

Of course, this kind of success can’t last forever and by 1996 the X-Men were a lot less stable a franchise.  They were still producing hits, like that year’s Age of Apocalypse story, but the writing was very much on the wall for them and for Marvel, with bankruptcy right around the corner.  Still, they managed to produce one last hurrah for the X-Men franchise in 1996 with a live-action pilot film for a proposed X-Men TV show: Generation X. 

The Flash S4 adds Hartley Sawyer as Elongated Man

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One of the best things about CW’s stable of superhero shows is their willingness to add swaths of additional superheroes to their single hero programs.  The name of the show might be Arrow or The Flash but both series also feature a rotating cast of supporting superheroes that help the world feel larger and more engaging.  It’s an approach that took Smallville years to stumble on but now they’re doing right out of the gate, like with Martian Manhunter appearing as a supporting character for Supergirl season 1.  And they aren’t slowing down, either, with new heroes joining the shows all the time and now we’ve got another name to add to that list.  The most recently announced new hero joining the CWnivere is Ralph Dibney, the Elongated Man, who will appear in The Flash season 4 and be portrayed by Hartley Sawyer. 

Neil Sandilands cast as The Thinker in Flash S4

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After three seasons I think it’s fair to say that The Flash may have done all it can do with evil speedsters.  That’s not a slam against the show by any means- Reverse Flash was a really fun season 1 antagonists buoyed by the incomparable Tom Cavanagh, Zoom was a cool and menacing super speed Bane for S2’s Knightfall riff, and Savitar worked well as a super speed Apocalypse for S3’s X-Men riff.  

So it makes sense that season 4 would adopt a non-super speed bad guy as the new series antagonist, though it raises some interesting questions about who that will be.  A lot of Flash’s biggest antagonists are already on the show in more relegated roles like the Top, Captain Cold, and even Gorilla Grodd.  That doesn’t leave a terribly deep bench to draw from but The Flash season 4 has dug deep into the Flash’s history and pulled out a whopper of a bad guy- The Thinker, played by Neil Sandilands. 

Judge Dredd Show Coming to TV

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It’s an odd time for British nerd exports.  America and the UK have always had an awkward relationship in terms of our nerdy cultural exchange, with a lot of Britain’s genre creations never making it to our shores.  This is mainly the result of “nerdy media” existing on the fringes of popular consumption for 50 years or so.  Certainly, things opened up a bit more thanks to the Internet, but even then, America has long held the premium on exporting nerd culture. 

As such, it’s taken a long time for British genre creations to ever make inroads to American audiences, but all that changed in the early 2010s.  I mainly point to 2012 and 2013, when James Bond and Doctor Who both enjoyed significant anniversaries and found mass popularity here in the states.  Since then, even as the popularity around those two has died down we’ve continued to import UK creations like Taboo or Sherlock. 

However, the one UK staple that has never truly found his way into American hearts is Judge Dredd.  Despite a Stallone film and a movie of his own in the 2012-2013 boom Judge Dredd just can’t find that sweet spot for American audiences like Bond, Sherlock, or The Doctor.  However, it looks like everyone’s favorite Justice will get a third chance to arrest our hearts with an upcoming TV show: Judge Dredd: Mega City One. 

Justice League Trailer Breakdown

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I don’t think there’s a more inexplicable upcoming blockbuster than Justice League.  Built atop the critically charred bones of the Batman v. Superman, the superhero team-up film looks to be the latest in a long line of brand new starts for the DC entertainment universe, except it’s not even that because that’s Wonder Woman’s job.  The movie seriously seems to have no actual reason to exist.  Maybe a few years ago right Avengers proved that superhero team movies with ensemble casts could be a huge hit, but now it just seems like a late visitor from a bygone age. 

We’ve already seen so many failed attempts to launch the DCEU the entire shared universe concept is tanked, Wonder Woman looks like an infinitely more interesting and thoughtful attempt to course correct the franchise, Zack Snyder’s vision for this property has been consistently underwhelming, and we’ve already seen a slew of garbage superhero team-up movies.  Justice League only seems to be in production because the studio owns some superhero properties and they’ve run out of Lord of the Rings movies to fill the void.  By all accounts, this film should be a rolling dumpster fire…so why does it look kind of fun? 

Comics Rainbow - Apes

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2017 seems to truly be the Age of the Ape.  Apes and Monkeys have always occupied a pretty unique place in the nerd culture pantheon.  They’re not like ninjas or zombies who defined an era before fading away into the collective nerd background noise, and they’re not like superheroes, which just sit atop the pop culture soil like permafrost.  Instead, apes tend to pop up sporadically as pop cultural touchstones that just stand as enduring monuments, like King Kong or Mighty Joe Young or the Planet of the Apes.  

The truth extends to comics as well as everything else, a medium that was once editorially mandated to feature a certain number of gorillas a month.  Given that love of ape characters the annals of comic history are flush with some fan favorites, underappreciated gems, and complete misfire ape characters and today I give you the full spectrum on all of them. 

Panel Vision - Black Lightning Casting Breakdown

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At time of writing the first details and overall structure of CW’s Black Lightning series have finally come to light.  We’ve now got a stronger idea of what the driving impetus of the show will be as well as the names of 4 most important super-cast members.  I’m specifically talking here about the superheroes and villains in the cast rather than folks like Black Lightning’s ex-wife or the prime police officer of the show.  With all this info to throw around, I thought I’d breakdown who the primary cast members of the show are as characters and in the comics as well as looking at the plot synopsis released by CW. 

Panel Vision - Guide to All CW Superheroes

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Edited by Robert Beach

In 2012, the world of TV superheroes changed forever. That was the year CW partnered with DC to produce a new superhero show after the success of their 10-year Smallville series. The show was called Arrow, and it wasn’t good. And yet, it persisted, and, in 2014, it spawned a spin-off show with The Flash. Then, in late 2014, everything changed with the first annual Flash/Arrow crossover. Suddenly, both shows were changed out stripped-down realism, empty cynicism, and minimal ambition. Grandiose vision, weird sci-fi exuberance, and an attempt to emulate the sprawling expanse of the Marvel Universe in the realm of TV took hold. 

This led to a third TV show of Legends of Tomorrow and a crossover with NBC’s Constantine. Finally, the little experiment CW started gave birth to its crown jewel: Supergirl, a hit family adventure series that has become THE version of the Superman mythos for a generation. Given that all 5 shows of the CW universe (CWniverse, CW-verse) are on a break (or canceled in Constantine’s case), I’ve taken it upon myself to make this semi-chronological guide to all 37 superheroes of the CWniverse. Yes, pull up a chair. 

Panel Vision - Invasion!

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The week I’m writing this marks a significant milestone for the shared television universe of DC Comics.  The CWniverse, as I call it, started out in 2012 with the show Arrow, a Green Arrow adaptation that leaned way too heavily on Batman for its identity.  

However, when they introduced Flash as a spin-off series in 2014 things started to improve, even if the first half of Flash season 1 was pretty weak.  The real turning point, for this entire endeavor, was the 2014 Flash/Arrow crossover, a blockbuster event that finally managed to inject light, fun, and weirdness into the CWniverse. 

It also brought in some serious ratings as ever since then crossovers and multi-hero universes.  All of that now culminates in an epic 4-night crossover between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow adapting the 1989 event comic Invasion.  In honor of the occasion, I’m looking back on the original Invasion! Comics, which is nice because they’re also one of my favorite event comics of all time. 

Panel Vision - Justice Riders

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ne of the more surprising trends of the 2010s is that the Western is back from extinction.  This is mainly due to Tarantino re-introducing us to the versatility of the genre in 2012 with Django Unchained but it’s spread well beyond that.  There were more Westerns than superheroes movies in 2015 and now we’re gearing up for a double dose of the old west with the twin remakes of Magnificent Seven and West World.  This is hardly the first time Westerns have impacted the cultural landscape but the revival and the genre versatility it’s brought with it have certainly cast a new light on an old style. 

Even though this current crop of films are set in the Old West and feature cowboys and gun fights they all come with additional genre elements like Bone Tomahawk’s position as a horror movie, Hateful Eight is an Agatha Christie mystery, Ridiculous 6 was a comedy (hey I’m just talking about Westerns, not GOOD Westerns.)  All this genre crossover reminded me of my favorite Western comic book courtesy of DC Comics- the late ‘90s oddity that was The Justice Riders. 

Panel Vision - 5 Things to Expect from Suicide Squad 2

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Edited by Robert Beach

After three weeks in the #1 spot on the box-office charts and a comfortable spot as the 8^th highest grossing film of the year, Suicide Squad is a bona fide hit. Granted, it’s one of those hits like Godzilla (2014) or Cinderella where it makes a ton of money, but the cultural impact is a lot more questionable. Given DC’s track record, monetary success coupled with anything less than audience loathing seems to be enough to register success. With that, DC still has two open slots in their cinematic schedule; it’s probably that time where we all start speculating about what the sequel might bring. 

However, that’s going to be a little different for DC as their films don’t boast much interconnectivity, and Suicide Squad, in particular, wasn’t founded on a franchise mentality. Regardless of quality, the structure of the film was such that any sequel would be more or less free to be another “villains on a mission” movie, swapping out the villains and the mission. And yet, I believe it could do more. I’ve put together a list of 5 things to improve on the first movie in Suicide Squad 2.

Static Thoughts - Is Metamorpho, The Element Man, Coming to The Flash Season 3?

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Edited by Robert Beach

In case you didn’t know, this fall’s new season of The Flash will take place in an alternate timeline from the show’s normal status quo. That probably sounds daunting and complicated if you’re not already a fan of the series, but it is pretty novel and streamlined for a large-scale superhero show that’s become the fulcrum of an expanding superhero universe on TV. The basic idea is that this new present was created when the hero, The Flash, went back in time and saved his mother from getting killed by a super villain. 

That change altered history. Now Flash must deal with the consequences. It’s a neat concept that affords the creators free will to imagine an altered reality similar to the show’s status quo with some key tweaks to play around with. For instance, this new reality will feature the premiere of series regular Wally West as Kid Flash. I speculate that the change will bring another major superhero revelation: the premiere of Metamorpho. 

Joe Dinicol Cast as Ragman in Arrow S5

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As we move into the 4^th year of CW’s superhero dominance a bizarre question has begun to emerge: how do you solve a problem like Arrow?  The Green Arrow show was the first of CW’s new crop of comic book adaptations, premiering in 2012 and setting the tone for 3 years of superhero television and impacting sister shows like Gotham and even Agents of SHIELD.  However, the 2012 was a long time ago and the superhero television landscape has definitely shifted under Arrow’s feet, with the drab and stripped down aesthetic of the first 3 seasons left in the dust by the likes of The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. 

Arrow has just become a lot less relevant to CW’s expansive universe of shows and season 4’s increased focus on magic didn’t really help things.  As such, season 5 has opted to double down on the one thing that worked for season 4: introducing new heroes, with a crop of new characters coming to the upcoming premiere.  I’ve already covered Wild Dog, Vigilante, and Human Target, now meet Ragman, the Tatterdemalion of Justice, played by Joe Dinicol. 

The Flash Season 3 Trailer Breakdown

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Edited by Robert Beach

In about two months, The Flash will premiere its third season on CW. After a shaky season 1 in 2014, The Flash busted out of nowhere to be the premiere series of the CW-verse. It continues to push the boundaries for how much a superhero TV show has ever adapted from its comic origins and bringing in hit new shows like Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.  

Even though Arrow kicked off CW’s superhero shows, it was The Flash that made them a force to be reckoned with. Its winning combination of weird sci-fi, cool CG action, big, operatic emotional storytelling, and the great collection of lead actors propels the material.  

Now, the show faces its biggest challenge yet, adapting the rolling dumpster fire that was 2011’s Flashpoint event comic into a good season of television. We won’t know till the show comes out if they’ve succeeded, but based on this first trailer, yeah, I’d say they managed it.

Film Land - The Future of DC Films

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Edited by Robert Beach

There’s no denying that the comic book superhero is the dominant culture myth of the 2010s.  Ever since the double-barreled blast of greatness that 2008’s Iron Man and Dark Knight the genre has risen to greater and greater heights, dominating the foreign and domestic box office, making a massive mark on the national psyche, and making name heroes out of obscurities like Ant-Man or the Guardians of the Galaxy.  All of this makes it even more bizarre that WB, the people who own DC Comics and thus half of the entire collection of viable superhero properties, have had such a difficult time turning their huge library of IP into quality films or solvent blockbusters. 

For whatever reason, WB has yet to turn out a good superhero film this decade, instead handing in a series of embarrassing failures like Green Lantern, Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and most recently Batman v. Superman.  Things seem to be changing however as WB has recently released a whole sweep of information about their plans for the rest of the decade.  Could this single an end to years of failure and the beginning of a DC movieverse to rival Marvel?  Let’s see. 

Panel Vision - Superman & The Legion of Superheroes

Edited by Robert Beach 

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As I currently write this, the political world is in something of a weird place. Honestly, “weird” feels like an understatement. American politics are blighted by vicious strains of white supremacy and xenophobia; the world is still gripped in the midst of a refugee crisis, and the UK is deciding whether or not it wants to drop out of the EU (Editor's Note: they did). It’s a tumultuous time, and the elements of racism, hatred, and general petty bigotry that inform the political climate are hard to ignore. 

While all of this is an issue to be dealt with through political action, it’s also a massively stressful and emotionally taxing ordeal to live with. The situation that fiction can exist to reflect and give us some semblance of ease through. And where some of the ugliest beliefs and ideologies of humanity can rear their head with pride and a legitimate chance at power, there’s no greater fictional reflection of our current state than Superman and the Legion of Superheroes.

Static Thoughts - The Flash Season 3, What's Next?

Edited by Robert Beach

The Flash season 2 has come to its conclusion and what a conclusion it was. As the title suggest, I’m going to be discussing what could happen in the immediate aftermath of The Flash’s major season 2 reveals and twists, so if you haven’t seen the finale yet, beware of spoilers ahead. 

At the end of the show, Barry foiled the villainous Zoom by managing to summon the time wraiths, the undead monsters that defend the timeline and the speed force that consumed Zoom and dragged him off to parts unknown. However, victory came at a high price as Zoom had killed Barry’s father Henry Allen, a loss compounded by the discovery that Zoom’s prisoner was the Henry Allen of Earth-3 AKA the real Jay Garrick.  

In the face of so much loss and flirting with the dangers of time travel once more, Barry chose to travel back in time and save his mom from being killed by the villainous Reverse Flash, causing catastrophic reverberations through the timeline. 

Static Thoughts - 8 Questions About Gotham Season 3

Edited by Robert Beach

Gotham has now completed its second season and was it ever mixed. The slow development of the superhero landscape has not been kind to Fox’s Batman prequel series. While other shows like Supergirl or The Flash have been able to dive head first into crazy superhero concepts, Gotham plodded along through the muck of its own timeline and the restriction of its central hero, Bruce Wayne, still being a 12 year old.  

This has led the show to attempt many bizarre solutions like bringing in a radically reimagined Order of St. Dumas to target young Bruce Wayne and, more recently, setting up Hugo Strange as the true architect of all Batman’s villains. Batman villains really have become the key to Gotham’s attempts at crafting a larger, multi-season story arc much in the same way Spider-Man villains were the crux of Sony’s now defunct Amazing Spider-Man series.  Monday night’s finale took this to all new heights and has left me with 8 major questions about where Gotham is going in season 3. 

Static Thoughts - 12 Things They Need in Supergirl Season 2

Edited by Robert Beach

Supergirl season 2 has now been officially confirmed, with one significant twist: it will be on CW instead of CBS. At this point, that shake-up makes a lot of sense. Supergirl was a big hit show that never quite had the ratings to sustain its budget with CBS, so farming it out to CW’s legion of superhero shows make a lot of sense. It remains to be seen if Supergirl will in some way immigrate to the main universe of CW shows or if it’ll take place on Earth-4, separate from the adventures of Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. However, as we wait for that answer, let’s all climb aboard the Supergirl Season 2 hype train with a list of all the stuff they should include in the next, installment of the girl of steel.