Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/3/18
This was a weird week in comics. Some weeks, all my favorites come out and I get flooded with so many fun comics to review! And then we get weeks like this one, where none of the new Marvel Comics are ones that I read, or that I’m so far behind on that I can’t review, like All-New Wolverine (which remains excellent). And since it was a Fifth Wednesday, DC mostly put out Annuals, which I’m never all-too thrill to review. The Detective Comics Annual has an origin for James Tynion’s Clayface, so at least there’s that.
But of regular, meat and potatoes comics that I actually read, there was really only the new issue of Harley Quinn for me this week! It’s an improvement over the previous issue, but I’m going to give Comic Book of the Week to the first issue of The Silencer, one of DC’s new wave of titles. I applaud DC for releasing a wave of comics with almost entirely new characters — even if I haven’t been too tickled by the lineup personally. The Silencer could be fun, though.
New comic!
Honestly, All-New Wolverine should have won. I’ll get back to reviewing it next issue.
Meanwhile, I really, really don’t care for Dark Nights: Metal, which saw a new issue drop this week. It thinks it’s so clever, fiddling with DC continuity on the fly and treating it like kibble for fanboys. But DC continuity is so malleable right now, after the New 52 and Rebirth, that none of this stuff matters. Martian Manhunter shows up in a surprise appearance, and I was left scratching my head as to when the last time Martian Manhunter mattered or had solid continuity. How is his sudden arrival supposed to mean anything if we don’t know where he’s arriving from? Or why his arrival is sudden?
It’s stuff like that, plus the general idea that the villains are just a vague, omnipresent evil that can be anywhere, do anything and beat anybody…until they can’t and the heroes win. No thanks.
Comic Reviews: Harley Quinn #36 and The Silencer #1.
Please, Nobody Freak Out About the New Ninja Turtles
There’s going to be a new Ninja Turtles cartoon, called Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are going to be a lot of changes to the series, as detailed at Entertainment Weekly. All I’m asking is that nobody freak out.
Looks fine
I am a huge Ninja Turtles fan. Their original cartoon was probably my favorite classic 80s cartoon growing up. And a lot of people can be strict Ninja Turtles purists. Those people might have a problem with these new changes, including the fact that Raphael is the leader, Leonardo is the rebel, the Turtles are all different species of turtle, and they have different looks and weapons.
I’m here to tell you that this is totally OK.
I was a big fan of the last Ninja Turtles cartoon on Nickelodeon, and I didn’t even know it had come to an end. And that’s entirely my point:
There are so many different incarnations of the Ninja Turtles these days that a few cosmetic changes DO NOT MATTER!
Perfectly fine
There are SO many different Ninja Turtles things these days. There are half a dozen separate cartoons, each one a little bit different. There are the original movies and the newer movies. There are multiple comic book series from several different publishers. So many video games. There is no end to the different incarnations of the Ninja Turtles.
Therefore, it is pointless to get upset with whatever changes they implement in only the latest incarnation.
Do we really want to just keep re-living the same Ninja Turtles over and over again ad infinitum? If we’re getting a new cartoon, why not let the creative people behind it flex their muscles and try something new? There’ll be a new cartoon or movie or video game coming along in a couple of years. It’s inevitable.
So don’t freak out about the changes in this cartoon. They’ll be changed back in the next cartoon, probably. Just let this one be. Maybe it’ll be good.
The important thing is that the Ninja Turtles are still cool.
———————-
The Top 6 Fishiest Mermen in Pop Culture
I hope The Shape of Water wins the Oscar for Best Picture. It’s such a weirdly cool movie! I saw it this past weekend after waiting months for it to come to my local theater, and it was worth the wait. I’ll settle for the fact that it was nominated for Best Picture in the first place, but a win would be so wild and weird!
The romance of our times
The Shape of Water is about a woman who falls in love with a fish-man. It’s a classic movie monster given a love story twist, and it works wonderfully. And it got me thinking about fish-men in particular. The Gill-Man is my favorite of the classic Universal Monsters, so I decided to make a list of the best Mermen in pop culture! And I don’t mean handsome, half-fish style Mermen, like Prince Namor or King Triton. I’m talking the ugly, fish-man-looking weirdos!
Join me after the jump for the fishiest of the bunch!
First Trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp!
Ant-Man is one of my favorite Marvel superhero movies, and is probably my favorite character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I like his ‘Average Joe’ style, and Paul Rudd is charmingly ordinary as he dives into the crazy world of superheroes.
So I’m thrilled that there’s a sequel in Ant-Man and the Wasp!
Looks great! Lots of action, some humor, and a really cool focus on Evangeline Lily’s Wasp! I liked the little bit about Scott not asking her to help out in Captain America: Civil War.
And the brief glimpse we get of the Ghost is pretty cool. I’m really looking forward to another solid and enjoyable Marvel superhero movie!
——————
Henchie’s First Annual Oscar Assessment!
For the first time I can remember, I’ve actually seen most of the nominees for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I love movies, but I don’t give two squats about awards or award shows. But I am always slightly perturbed that when the Best Picture nominees are announced, it’s always a smattering of barely released indie films that the average movie-goer hasn’t seen! I may dislike award shows, but I want to have an opinion on movies, gosh darn it!
Well now my time has come! In 2017, I made a promise to myself to go see more movies in the theater, and I pulled it off with aplomb! The arrival of MoviePass by the end of the year helped a great deal, and I have now seen seven of the nine nominees for Best Picture!
This is them
I wanted to do this article last week when the nominees were announced, but The Shape of Water didn’t come to my local theater until Friday and I wanted to wait. I was really looking forward to that movie and my patience paid off!
Join me after the jump for my thoughts on most of the best picture nominees, plus some of the other categories.
Henchman-4-Hire 