Panel Vision - 6 Questions About Fox's Black Lightning

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

As the superhero genre continues its absolute dominance of the media landscape of the 21^st century, we’re finally starting to get more diversity in the genre.  Obviously there’s always been some diversity in our offerings so far, Marvel, in particular, has made an effort to give all of their heroes a black best friend (War Machine in Iron Man, Heimdall in Thor, Falcon in Captain America) and DC’s Suicide Squad featured a shockingly diverse cast of supporting characters, but now we’re starting to see diversity in the headliners as well.  

Wonder Woman is finally getting her own movie, Aquaman in Polynesia, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel are both headed for the big screen, and Black Lightning will be getting his own TV show on Fox.  Black Lightning’s show is a pretty major achievement, going hand-in-hand with Luke Cage on Netflix as the first black superhero shows since Blade.  Given that, and the revelation that it will be a Berlanti produced show airing on Fox, I’ve got six major questions about the Black Lightning show.

Panel Vision - The Case for a Batman Movie Universe

If you like this post or want to support the blog, please consider donating

As I write this we are approximately one month out from the Suicide Squad movie upon which DC and WB have hung their collective hopes for a cinematic universe.  We’re all still reeling from the sucker punch that was Batman v. Superman ending up something closer to a fever dream farce than a solvent blockbuster and even though the slow drip of new information on WB’s prospective slate of future superhero blockbusters has been encouraging there’s a lot of uncertainty going forward. 

It’s starting to seem more and more like Batman films really are the only superhero movies that WB can actually do well, a concept which got me thinking.  If WB is so committed to its Batman franchise they’re willing to constantly run back to the Bat well when things get rough, why not just cut out the middleman and produce a Batman shared movie universe. 

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.

 

Panel Vision - Top 12 Comics That Should Be Shows

Edited by Robert Beach

As we enter the dog days of the summer season, the ramp up is getting started for all the fall series dramas, which translates to “A ton of superhero and comic book shows.” This fall alone we’ll be seeing Flash, Arrow, Walking Dead, Gotham, Supergirl, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Jessica Jones. All of that is before Lucifer, Preacher, Agent Carter, and Legends of Tomorrow kick up in the winter. With Krypton, Teen Titans, Static Shock, and #4Hero still in the development cycle, I’d expect plenty more superheroes on TV before we see non-superhero adaptations like Southern Bastards or Sex Criminals. As such, I thought I’d get in on the act by taking a look at the top 12 comics that should be TV shows.