Category Archives: DC
Review: Teen Titans #5
This Teen Titans comic is pretty much the antithesis of everything I like in comics these days. Books like Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye and Batgirl are breaking new ground on how superhero stories can be told, with real human characters, real human drama and actual creativity in their storytelling. Batgirl, for example, embraces the modern day world of its youthful character, sending Barbara Gordon spinning into a world of Internet hookups, auto-tuned bad guys and real stakes. Ms. Marvel stars a teenager who is just as much in touch with her family as she is with superheroics, and actually has to worry about both. Hawkeye is mostly interested in the man behind the mask.
Teen Titans #5
Whereas Teen Titans is content to be just a dumb superhero comic where the characters are only really concerned about being superheroes. Not even an art change or the promise of a new character can save Teen Titans #5 from just being generally dull.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
I said this before in my last review, but it bears repeating: what is so difficult about writing a story that’s actually about the Teen Titans themselves? The previous writer, Scott Lobdell, never managed to do it, and new writer Will Pfiefer likewise can’t seem to focus on his teen stars. It’s not like they’re a boring group! This is actually a pretty solid roster of Titans. They have the potential for some really interesting mix-ups. Beast Boy and Bunker have a neat friendship/roommate thing going. And why haven’t we heard a peep about the Red Robin/Wonder Girl romance since Pfiefer took over? Raven, meanwhile, doesn’t have any strong relationships with anyone on the team.Why not tackle some of these legitimately interesting topics?
Instead, Pfiefer introduces some of the most laziest super-villains I’ve ever read for one of the laziest superhero fights I’ve ever read. Does he not care? Does he not want Teen Titans to be a good comic? Pfiefer backs off his pet character, Manchester Black, for a little bit, but he doesn’t replace him with the Teen Titans. He replaces him with a gaggle of spoiled rich kids who take a designer drug that gives them super-powers. Is there anything more unimaginative? Then these idiots literally fall into the Titans’ laps. That’s how the heroes of this comic book get involved. The rich kids decide to fight established superheroes for no reason other than it’s a thing to do, and we have a comic.
I don’t know if I’ve ever been more disappointed in this comic. Or maybe I’m not disappointed so much as just tired. I’m tired of Teen Titans failing.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/13/14
By the time you read this, I still won’t have my Christmas or Hannukah shopping done. What can I say? I’m a terrible procrastinator. I’m frankly amazed that I’ve managed to keep these reviews on time for the past few years. But don’t you fret, henchies, the various important people in my life will definitely be getting presents! I think the Steam Winter Sale is coming up…
If only I could hand out comic books as presents, but the only other person in my family who reads comics is my brother, and we share the ones I buy anyway. So I’m stuck just reading these comics without anyone to give them to for the holidays! Fortunately, December could be a very good month, with new issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Thor, and the debut of Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick!
Comic Book of the Week goes to one of my personal favorite comics right now, Batgirl, for another fantastic issue! This book is making waves, people! Wonderful, surf-worthy waves!
Elsewhere on the Internet, you can check out my review of Spider-Man and the X-Men #1. It’s…weird. Obviously things would have to change with Wolverine being dead and all, but I didn’t expect such a major shift towards silliness. But hey, maybe silliness is your thing!
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #11, Batgirl #37, Batman Eternal #36, Bitch Planet #1 and Thor #3.
6 Things I Want to See in the Suicide Squad Movie
Apparently, by all accounts, the Suicide Squad movie is really happening. Even though big names like Will Smith and Jared Leto have been cast, I’m still having a hard time believing that DC Comics and Warner Bros. have chosen the Suicide Squad over the entire rest of their future lineup to make a movie about. Suicide Squad is the direct follow-up to Dawn of Justice. It boggles the mind!
But hey, I’m not one to turn down a good superhero movie, and maybe this will be a really good superhero movie!
Why isn’t the giant shark man in the movie?!
The Suicide Squad is one of those great comic book concepts. It’s about a team of super-villains put together by the government to run dangerous black-ops missions, and in exchange they get time knocked off their prison sentences. It’s a pretty ingenious way to take a bunch of classic villain characters and turn them into protagonists without erasing their menace. And quite honestly, the concept makes for a pretty awesome and original superhero movie. This won’t be an origin story, this won’t be a hero’s journey; this is an action film starring comic book badasses…so maybe that’s why they’re making it next!
Filming is scheduled to begin next year, so there’s plenty of time for producers to check out the six things I want in the Suicide Squad movie! You can check them out after the jump, and feel free to add some of your own ideas in the comments!
Behold Krypton; What Our Arrogance Has Wrought!
The TV executives were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should!
Confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter yesterday, the Syfy network is apparently working on a TV show called Krypton, which will be about Superman’s grandfather living on the infamous planet decades before it blows up. I guess Syfy finally figured out what to do with all those leftover Caprica scripts…
Spoilers!
This is where our arrogance has brought us, people. We were so excited to get great TV shows like Arrow and The Flash that we didn’t realize what was happening! Apparently DC and Warner Bros. are in some kind of rush to produce as many live action superhero shows as possible, regardless of whether or not the world needs them or they make any sense!
I mean, come on! Superman’s grandfather?! What the hell does he have to do with anything? How is this a show?! Alongside the obvious parallel, Gotham, it seems like Warner Bros. wants to have its cake and eat it too in the worst possible way. They won’t make a Batman or Superman TV show, but they’ll wildly throw out shows loosely based on those characters. And Gotham is one thing. At least that has a young Bruce Wayne, and an actually identifiable star in the legitimately interesting Commissioner Gordon.
But Superman’s grandfather?! Ridiculous!
According to initial reports, the show will be about this patriarch trying to bring hope and equality to a ruthless planet. How is that a Superman show? How?! Is there no one stopping and questioning whether or not any of this is insane? Or maybe DC is preying upon gullible networks who are desperate to leech off the good will of DC’s other shows and all those popular Marvel movies. Syfy clearly saw the recording breaking numbers of The Flash premiere and wanted to get in on that action, but they’ve clearly settled on the most asinine option possible.
So let’s see, what’s next? Atlantis? Themyscira? Mars? Thanagar?
I vote Thanagar!
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This Has Got to Be Some Kind of Trick…
I’m actually a little speechless about this casting news. Not only are we living in a world where both Green Arrow and the Flash have amazing live action TV shows, but we also live in a world that reaches back 20 years and recasts Mark Hamill as the Trickster!
For those who don’t know, Hamill played the supervillain Trickster in the original live action Flash TV show in the early 90s. Don’t believe me? Here’s Youtube!
Actual physical proof that this was a thing in the early 90s!
Well now the forces of the universe have come together to bring Hamill back to play the Trickster again on the new Flash live action TV show on The CW! This is all according to Hitflix.
This is probably the most insane casting news I’ve ever written about for this blog. It defies all expectations of how the universe is supposed to work. We’re not supposed to get nice things! The world isn’t supposed to make such perfect sense!
According to Hitflix, Hamill will play an older Trickster who was locked up in prison a long time ago as a terrorist. He’ll be a Hannibal Lecter-type villain, advising the Flash from inside a prison cell, while a new, younger Trickster tries to play copycat. This actually lines up with the comics, since there really is an older Trickster and a younger Trickster who tried to steal his identity.
Whatever happens, this casting is some amazing news. This is a good day.
Henchman-4-Hire 