Category Archives: DC
Review: Arrow: “Pilot”
The new superhero TV show Arrow is right on target to be a success! The CW has definitely hit the bullseye! Let me William Tell you how good it is! But I kid, I kid; we have some fun here. Amazing puns aside, the first episode of Arrow was pretty damn good, showing us that this new Green Arrow series might be a real straight shooter. That was the last one, I promise. But seriously, this was good TV. There is always some hesitation when it comes to bringing a serious superhero to the small screen, where the show runners don’t have access to the same kinds of budgets as Hollywood movies. I don’t know why, but there’s just a higher frequency of screw ups when it comes to superheroes on TV compared to superheroes in the movies.
Why this difference exists, who knows? But with a focus on character, a lot of fun twists and the promise of a lot more excitement to come, Arrow is going to make other superhero TV shows green with envy. Yep, I went there.
4/5: Good!
Dark and brooding? Check. Bat Symbol? No check.
The previews for Arrow have looked great, so I’ve had a lot of hope for this series, and the first episode did not let me down. Green Arrow is a character who doesn’t rely on a lot of flashy super powers, so his Batman-esque style of crime fighting is easily portrayed on the small screen. His costume isn’t flashy either, so again, a solid translation – though I’m still very concerned about the choice to wear eye makeup instead of an actual mask. It would do nothing to protect Green Arrow’s identity. The fight choreography and the action scenes are very well done, with an emphasis on parkour-like jumping and running. I like that. With movies like the Jason Bourne trilogy turning parkour style rooftop running into a legitimately exciting event, it makes perfect sense to use it with a superhero. I hope we get to see more of that kind of athleticism.
The rest of the show is bolstered by some great character work. Stephen Amell does a great job as Oliver Queen, all hard abs and good looks. I really got a sense that he was a changed/new man trying to poke his way back into a life that he’d lost for five years. Or maybe he just naturally has that far-away sort of look. Either way, I felt he did a good job, and could carry this show. The rest of the cast was really good, especially Colin Donnell as his best buddy Merlyn (more on him later) and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance. They really established themselves well.
The rest of the cast, like love interest Dinah “Laurel” Lance (Katie Cassidy) and younger sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland), do a good enough job establishing their characters, but don’t particularly stand out in the first episode. The rest of the cast, likewise, have weak starts, but a lot of promise, hopefully.
I think the best thing Arrow has going for it so far is potential. Along with establishing Oliver Queen’s new status quo, they also fill the episode with hints, flashbacks and mysteries that are legitimately interesting, and could easily propel the series forward. Likewise, the future of several character relationships intrigues me. So yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to more Arrow, and I thought the pilot was fantastic.
Join me for more after the jump! And there will be SPOILERS for the first episode, as well as possible Green Arrow in general.
Green Arrow for Injustice Game – Still No Robin
The makers of Injustice: Gods Among Us continue to reveal their fighters at an agonizingly slow pace. The latest is Green Arrow.
The game comes out in April, so I suppose the developers still have plenty of time. But can you really tell me that they don’t, at this point, already know all the fighters who are going to be in their game? I guess I’m just being impatient. As long as they let these reveals trickle out like they are, they’ll continue to grab headlines on geek sites.
The previewed box art has also revealed Green Lantern and Joker – but they were kind of obvious choices.
But I just want to know if the game is going to feature Robin! And I’ll keep saying this in the hopes that one of the developers reads my blog, but what would be a cooler match up in this type of game than Batman vs. Robin? The teacher vs. the student! It’s classic! Nightwing is in the game, sure, but he’s not Robin anymore. People know Robin. People know the Dynamic Duo that is Batman and Robin. A fight between the two of them still holds a lot of oomph behind it!
So make it happen, NetherRealm! Don’t make me tell you again!
Also, speaking of Green Arrow, look for my review of the first episode of Arrow later today or this weekend.
Larfleeze is Kinda, Sorta, Maybe Gonna Get His Own Series!
Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern, is one of my absolute favorite new comic book characters introduced in the past couple years. He’s crazy, in a fun way, and he rocks the color orange almost as well as Otto. He’s been kind of a stinker in the pages of Green Lantern: New Guardians in the New 52, so it seems that DC is going to give him his own series, written by space and joke master Keith Giffen!
Or actually, Larfleeze is going to get some back-up features in a new cosmic superhero comic entitled Threshold.
Reach harder, you lovable bastard!
Giffen is one of the geniuses that wrote Marvel’s Annihilation series, which was this huge space-based Marvel story that completely rewrote the entire Marvel space landscape. You know the Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out in two years? That movie exists because of the work that Giffen did with Marvel’s space characters. So now that he’s working for DC, they’ve decided to let Giffen have similar fun with all of DC’s space characters. Could be a real blast.
But I’m mostly interested in the Larfleeze back up stories that are going to be a part of Threshold.
For those who don’t know, Larfleeze is the Orange Lantern; similar, of course, to the Green Lantern. A few years ago, writer Geoff Johns blew up the Green Lantern mythos, introducing some stellar new concepts and ideas that remain popular to this day. One of those is the idea that ‘Green’ is just one color in the entire Lantern spectrum, and that there are other groups out there, not just the Green Lantern Corps. There’s the Sinestro Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, the Star Sapphires, the Indigo Tribe…and then there is Larfleeze, the only Orange Lantern. The color orange represents greed in the emotional spectrum, and Larfleeze is an alien psychopath who is obsessed with his own power and owning stuff.
He’s comedic gold! And I’m very much looking forward to this series now.
Giffen had this to say about Larfleeze:
Yeah, there’s always going to be humor in everything I do, but with Larfleeze, he’s just such an outrageous character that you can do a lot with him. His first adventure is going to be dark humor, because he is, of course, greedy and self-centered and mean. So if you find that funny, then you’re going to find this story hilarious.
Sounds excellent to me! You can read the whole interview at Newsarama.
DC Comics is Going to Try Again With Superman
This can’t be good news for the replacement writers on Superman and Action Comics. But DC has announced a brand new Superman comic – called Man of Steel – that will be written by superstar writer Scott Snyder and drawn by superstar artist Jim Lee. It will come out next year, not so coincidentally alongside a new Superman movie that is also titled Man of Steel.
Look at him break stuff like a pro!
Jim Lee, of course, is one of the most popular comic book artists of the modern day, and one of the big wigs at DC Comics corporate. He was also the artist entrusted with starting the New 52’s flagship Justice League series.
Scott Snyder is currently writing the spectacular and incredibly popular Batman series, and is the mastermind behind both the Court of Owls and the current, highly rated Joker storyline.
So clearly DC Comics is banking hard on this new Superman series.
But that makes me wonder how the new creative teams of the current Superman comics – Action Comics and Superman – must now feel. I mean, jeez, why don’t DC just hang big signs around their neck that their comics won’t matter in the wake of Man of Steel? I can’t imagine that the Superman comics are doing so well that Superman could support three ongoing series. Batman is doing it, but just barely. And Superman is not as popular as Batman.
DC has actually had a bit of trouble with Superman in the New 52. Grant Morrison has been writing a pretty popular Action Comics, but he’s leaving in the new year, to be replaced by Andy Diggle. Not to talk down on Mr. Diggle’s work, but he’s no Grant Morrison. Nobody is Grant Morrison. Though personally, I haven’t been a big fan of Morrison’s Action Comics. Considering it was supposed to be the main Superman title in the new reboot, Morrison went really insane really fast, which I thought was disruptive in the context of a reboot.
And then Superman the series has had four different writers in just one year, with Scott Lobdell taking over in September. And readers of my blog will know that I’m no fan of Scott Lobdell’s work on Teen Titans – though I am sort of enjoying his work on Red Hood and the Outlaws. But Scott Lobdell is no Scott Snyder or Grant Morrison or anybody else. Not to be mean, but he’s not an A-list talent in the comic book world. After losing George Perez – who was very vocal about why he left Superman – and Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens, it seems like DC just looked around their office for someone who wasn’t mad at DC Comics and just threw Lobdell into the slot.
So clearly Superman has been floundering in the New 52, whereas characters like Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman have exploded out of the gate. This new Man of Steel comic may turn things around and give us some quality Superman stories…but why not put Snyder and Lee on one of the existing Superman books? Why try to support 3 identical Superman comics?
Though I definitely think I’ll be buying Man of Steel when it comes out. Snyder and Lee are great!
Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
Another faithful animated comic book adaptation has arrived, and I continue to be only mildly impressed by what the DC animators have cranked out. I’ve mentioned this in the last few reviews of these animated DVDs, but nobody seems to be trying very hard. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is very ordinary. The animation style is the same as they’ve always used. The voice actors are mediocre at best, with a few clunkers. The adaptation is almost faithful to the word, and the few minor changes don’t really add anything new or interesting to the show. This DVD is basically just the same people cranking out the same product they’ve always been.
But that’s not to say we shouldn’t be eternally grateful that we now have a fully animated adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns, one of the greatest Batman stories ever written.
Movie rating: 4/5: Good.
Don’t let my nitpicking keep you away from a good adaptation of the classic Frank Miller comic. The animation is top notch, the action is very good and, like I said, the cartoon is an almost exact replication of the comic. And considering that comic book fans tend not to like change, that’s probably for the best. Could you imagine the firestorm if DC Animation had rewritten parts of this story? Sometimes minor changes to the story works, like with the Watchmen movie, but sometimes it could be terrible, like all other planned adaptations of Watchmen.
That The Dark Knight Returns has been stretched into two films is unfortunate, but for the best, considering the lengthy tale. Once both parts are out, I’m hoping it’s a better experience overall. But Part 1 has its own stories, so we’re not lacking for content by only getting the first half of the comic on film.
Though we are missing out on what could have been a powerful artistic interpretation. Anyone who has read the original comic knows that The Dark Knight Returns has a very unique and hectic art style. It’s a little jarring and confusing at first, but quickly grows on you in the reading. The animation in the new DVD is the same kind of animation DC has been cranking out since Batman: The Animated Series nearly 20 years ago, which is a shame. While it’s solid animation and looks great, it loses that unique, emotional feel that came from the original art.
Same with the voice acting. Peter Weller is a terrible Batman. The producers may have been super excited to get Robocop to do the voice, but he stinks. Weller’s performance is flat and emotionless, in a story that calls for Batman to be full of rage and power. It’s a complete failure.
Was Kevin Conroy busy that week and couldn’t do the voice? Join me after the jump for more.
Henchman-4-Hire 