Batgirl Film to be Directed by Joss Whedon

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Well, call me Captain “I told you so.”  Granted I didn’t predict Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and director of Avengers, would walk into WB and pitch a Batgirl film but on the topic of the DCEU transitioning to more of a Batman shared universe my predictions have been well documented.  Hell, I’m the guy who pitched a Batman-centric shared universe back in June of last year, before Suicide Squad had a chance to come out and thoroughly cement the irredeemable nature of the DCEU.  Even then, the clues were there for anyone to see so long as they were looking. 

Regardless of your own opinions on the DCEU thus far it can’t be denied that Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Suicide Squad have resoundingly failed at their respective tasks of launching a popular new Superman brand, starting the DCEU, and continuing interest in the DCEU.  Given that failure, it makes sense DC/WB would start drawing down the scale and cost in these superhero ventures and low and behold, before Batgirl, of the 5 announced DC films with actual directors 3 of them were Batman-centric.  Now that number’s jumped up to 4 making it 2/3rds of DC’s upcoming projects that are likely to actually happen so let’s dive into this announcement and see what it could add to the blossoming Batmaniverse. 

Cover Story - Top 10 Deathstroke Covers

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Let’s talk about Deathstroke.  This will be my third article dedicated to Da’ Stroke, as I’ve elected to lovingly call him, and I like to think of it as trying to make peace with the Terminator.  I may dislike him for the role he played in Identity Crisis and the undo importance thrust upon him in most adaptations, but regardless of my feelings, it’s clear Slade Wilson isn’t going away anytime soon.  

As such it’ll probably be better to try and find common ground now than keep resisting him, especially because his current ongoing series is shaking out pretty well and I really like Joe Manganiello.  As such these are the top 10 Deathstroke comic covers I’ve culled from across the shockingly high number of solo series he’s had.  Seriously, for a villain, this guy has had like 4 solo series at least, but I guess that just speaks to his appeal.  Let’s see if I can find what everybody else sees in these books. 

Panel Vision - Prez (2015) Review

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Edited by Robert Beach

This has been a strange year for politics. Mainly this election feels like the capstone on the long trend of social media growing to define the political arena rather than just reflect it. At the time of writing, the most recent bit of bizarre web memetics dominating the conversation about the national election came when the head of Latinos for Donald Trump threatened that “if Hillary wins, you’ll see Taco Trucks on every corner.” 

Naturally, this bit of bizarre posturing has drawn uproarious laughter from most corners, probably because “a taco truck on every corner” sounds like a god damn utopia. Even though the injection of tacos into the forefront of the presidential election seems ludicrous, it made me realize there had been on brilliant voice who saw this all coming, one spot-on genius comic: 2015’s Prez. 

Panel Vision - History of Deathstroke: A Plea Against Modern Deathstroke

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Edited by Robert Beach 

It’s starting to look like the DC villain Deathstroke will appear in next year’s Justice League and will more than likely be the villain of Ben Affleck’s solo Batman film.  I’ve been hesitant to address this news because, frankly, I’ve been holding out the hope that it was all some elaborate misdirection meant to obfuscate the real villain being Clock King, Dr. Destiny, or someone else, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If that bit of misplaced optimism wasn’t an obvious enough giveaway, I’m not terribly excited over this Deathstroke news. I get the sense I’m an outsider in this particular arena. 

Most Bat fans are salivating at the notion of Deathstroke making his second live-action debut while a good number of more moderate comic fans are happy to see their favorite Teen Titans villain make it to the big time. Even some older fans out there are happy to see Deathstroke’s return to culture prominence. To understand this along with the character’s future, we need to look at his past, so let’s dive into the history of Deathstroke to see why I’m the only one not thrilled about his adaptation. 

Cover Story - Top 15 Harley Quinn Covers

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We’re currently a week out from Suicide Squad, DC’s latest attempt to salvage the flaming wreckage of their cinematic universe.  I could go on and on about how bizarre it is that the people with the biggest stable of superheroes imaginable keep consistatly getting one-upped by the likes of Ant-Man and Thor (seriously, 9 years ago who outside the comics fandom even knew those guys existed?) but that’s not the point of this particular column.  No, we gather together today because there’s nothing topical happening this week related to comics but I have a compulsive need to make this show link to something.  

As such, we’re getting a head start on Suicide Squad by looking at the career of its most prominent member in the advertisements: Harley Quinn.  Originating in the Batman animated series of 1992 before immigrating to the comics and taking up residence there for 20 years as her character evolved from tragedy to comedy to something close to DC’s Deadpool.  So, let us celebrate this glorious harlequin of comics and dive into the shallow end to get the cover story on the top 15 Harley Quinn comic covers.

Cover Story - Top 20 Hawkman Covers

There’s really no need for a thesis at this point is there?  We’re in that dull part of the year where there’s not a lot of geek media to talk about and Legends of Tomorrow is still on so that’s what we’re talking about today.  I mean, this is the first time we’ve ever seen a big, live action, multi-hero team show come out of one of the big American comic companies so it’s a pretty major deal this show is still happening.  

Given that, I’m probably going to get around to dedicating a Cover Story to every member of the team and this week the character selection wheel has landed on Hawkman.  So, let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on the top 20 Hawkman comic covers. 

Cover Story - Top 17 Bizarro Covers

This week marks the live action debut of Bizarro on CBS’ Supergirl.  Granted this is Bizarro Supergirl as opposed to the standard Bizarro Number One of the comics but it’s still a pretty big deal all things considered.  I’m a massive Bizarro fan so this is a pretty big deal for me and I’ve chosen to celebrate by taking you through the best Bizarro covers I could dig up from across the characters very long history.  

This is going to be one of those Cover Stories where the cover collection doubles as an excuse to talk about Bizarro’s exceedingly weird history so in case you ever wanted to know what the deal was with the chalk white rocky Frankenstein Superman that is Bizarro, here we go.

Panel Vision - The History of DC Comics' Many Firestorms

Edited by Robert Beach 

This past week CW’s The Flash featured an episode entitled "The Fury of Firestorm." The character of Firestorm has been a major part of the show’s continuity since about mid season 1, but this latest episode has had to deal with the tricky situation of Ronnie Raymond actor Robbie Amell dropping out of the series due to scheduling conflicts with his film career. 

This means working out a way to swap in a new Firestorm actor, a task that would normally be pretty tough if this was any other hero but Firestorm. Firestorm is one of those weird superhero cases where multiple identities and various characters are built right into the characters DNA as well as populating his thoroughly bizarre history. 

Superman - Lois & Clark #1 Review

Superman - Lois & Clark is one of the strangest comics to come out of the DC You reboot, one that seems more like a living joke or a dare than an actual comic, full review of what I mean over here at Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/19/superman-lois-and-clark-1-review-comics/

Jay Garrick's Costume Revealed

So CW’s Flash, the best live action superhero show on the air right now and possibly of all time, started its second season this past week.  The first season started slow and rocky but picked up incredible speed to turn in an incredibly excellent and jam packed extravaganza of comic weirdness and well written characters.  There was compelling human drama amid all the time travel and psychic apes to say nothing of all the DC Universe shout outs and cameos.  I’ve written about the possibilities of season 2 previously but I wanted to take one more look now that CW has officially revealed Jay Garrick’s costume.

Jay Garrick in the comics was the original Flash, created by Gardner Fox in 1940s during the so-called Golden Age of comics.  He was later reintegrated into the mainstream living in a parallel reality called Earth-2, which was populated with other heroes from the Golden Age DC was no longer publishing.  So far his role has been pretty unclear on the show but this costume speaks volumes about what will be happening with him and even though I know this is old news keep reading because ‘Would You Like To Know More’ isn’t just a column about reporting news, it’s a column about wild speculation and in-depth nerdy explanations. 

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/

Panel Vision - History of Martian Manhunter

Edited by Robert Beach

I am a huge Martian Manhunter fan. I’ve liked the character since before I could remember, though I’m fairly certain my love for the Manhunter came from owning his action figure as a kid. I kid, but a big part of my love for this character does come from nostalgia. Specifically, it’s nostalgia for the 4-issue Martian Manhunter mini-series from 1988 written by J.M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger. This was basically the first “adult” comic I ever read when I was younger. Previously my experience with superheroes was relegated either to animated shows or re-printings of classic silver age stories.

Martian Manhunter was how I was introduced to the broader DC universe and discovered my favorite incarnation of the Justice League, the Justice League International. Coming back to it now, I concede that the comic doesn’t quite hold up, but it’s still enjoyable and allows me the chance to talk about the history of the Martian Manhunter: a subject I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while now.  

Action Comics #43 Review

My look at the DC You continues with Action Comics #43 and how grounded the series is in real world events of police misconduct and xenophobia, check it out over on All-Comic:

http://all-comic.com/2015/action-comics-43/

Cyborg #1 Review

My review of David F. Walker, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado's Cyborg #1 is up on All-Comic.  This issue has garnered a lot of interest throughout the comic community and I think my take on it goes a bit against the grain, check it out here:
http://all-comic.com/2015/cyborg-1/

Martian Manhunter #2 Review

If you like this review feel free to 'like' Lido Shuffle on Facebook here or follow me on Twitter here.

Martian Manhunter is shaping up to be one of the best comic books of DC's new marketing initiative, check out my review of the 2nd issue over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/07/18/martian-manhunter-2-review-comics/

Action Comics #41 Review

 

In my Panel Vision about Ghost Fleet I mentioned how I have a weekly job reviewing comics for Front Towards Gamer.  As such I'll be posting links to all new reviews on this blog as well just to let people know when they come out and what I'm reviewing.  This week I'm taking a look at Action Comics #41, a radical reinvention of Superman that features him being mostly depowered and completely ditching his traditional costume.  Check out the full review here.