Review – Teen Titans #2
By no means do I want Teen Titans to be a bad comic. I may be a comic book blogger, who loves to complain about a medium I claim to love, but I would like nothing more than for Teen Titans to be the best comic on the stands. I remain a die-hard Tim Drake fan, and if his comic was great, I would gladly sing its praises month in and month out. That’s why I was so excited for this Teen Titans relaunch. I held out hope that Will Pfeifer could salvage one of DC Comics’ most (in)famous franchises.
Teen Titans #2
But you know what they say about polishing a turd…Actually, no, it’s not that bad. Pfeifer has some solidly good ideas for the Teen Titans, but they appear to be only subplots crowded out by a clunker of a main plot.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I was cautiously optimistic about Teen Titans #1. It was solidly made, and relatively entertaining, but it was marred by the simple fact that it was just a big, generic superhero adventure when it could have been so much more! We are sitting at the dawn of a great new era in comics. Just look at the reaction to DC’s new plans for Batgirl. Teen Titans, more than any other comic in the industry, is poised to embrace this new, hip style. But Pfeifer seems determined to forge ahead with a big, dumb super-villain storyline that couldn’t be more boring if it featured Harvest.
Hopefully if I don’t say that name three times he won’t appear…
Pfeifer introduces a lot of fun ideas in Teen Titans #2 – ideas that I desperately hope he explores further – about the kind of impact the Teen Titans might have on today’s hip youth culture. Beast Boy with his own Youtube channel? Bunker as a gay culture hero with a major Twitter following? Raven inspiring punk rock bands? Wonder Girl inspiring a female empowerment movement? Why are these not the focus on the series? These are interesting stories that nobody else at DC is doing! (I might not be right about that, I never read The Movement or The Green Team.)
But no, instead we’re stuck with the same S.T.A.R. Labs storyline that doesn’t have anything to do with the Teen Titans. Ugh. And the surprise addition of a semi-classic, pre-reboot villain does not make a lick of difference. He’s not even a Titans villain!
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
6 Things I Want to See in a Ninja Turtles Sequel
I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I couldn’t help myself. The film was too energetic to be boring, and I will forever be a lifelong fan of the Ninja Turtles. That’s not to say it wasn’t a ridiculously stupid movie. There were so many plot holes and gaps in logic that I considered making a whole List of Six out of those flubs.
But I’m a positive guy who loves everything Ninja Turtles related! With a sequel already announced, I felt like embracing this franchise and everything it has to offer!
Like angry eyeballs!
And I’m only maybe talking about the Punk Frogs. One of the things I loved most about the Ninja Turtles cartoon in the 80s was the huge cast of fun and colorful mutants. But Michael Bay and Friends should probably stay away from adding too many new mutants to a movie franchise. So that’s out. I also probably shouldn’t request they change everything, like the stupid new take on the Turtles’ origin. We’re probably stuck with this new status quo, but it’s not so bad, as long as you just ignore it and focus on other parts of the movie.
As bad as this movie might be, we’re looking at a whole new Ninja Turtles franchise here, folks. I, for one, am going to embrace this new madness! Join me after the jump for my six suggestions for the Ninja Turtles sequel!
Mockingbird Cast in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. wasn’t a perfect sure, but you better believe I’m coming back for Season 2! And Marvel is gearing up with a ton of new characters and plots. So far, the only new character directly from the comics is Mockingbird! She’s going to be played by Adrianne Palicki, who was almost Wonder Woman in a TV show that never made it past the pilot.
The Hollywood Reporter announced the casting today.
Mockingbird, real name Bobbi Morse, is a secret agent and Avenger from the comic books. She hasn’t been around very much in recent years, but was pretty important back in the 70s and 80s, when she was Hawkeye’s wife. So this is a pretty big coup for the show. I doubt Mockingbird was ever going to make it into the movies, but she’d be pretty perfect on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
She could possibly also guest star in the Netflicks Defenders!
I Am On the Fence About a Planet Hulk Movie
How cool was it when the Hulk punched that Leviathan during the big climax of The Avengers? I can still remember the audience bursting into cheers as my own heart soared. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as thrilling as that moment since. That punch may very well be the defining moment of the entire Avengers franchise.
He’s always angry
So where’s the new Hulk solo movie?
Mark Ruffalo nailed it in The Avengers. He fit the role perfectly, and I for one couldn’t be happier with his performance. I think we can all also agree that the Hulk was the breakout character of the movie. Joss Whedon got the Hulk absolutely right, his feats of strength writ large on the big screen. The character couldn’t be hotter. But we’ve heard bupkis about any new Hulk movies.
Other than rumors that Marvel might send the Hulk into space for an adaptation of the Planet Hulk storyline from the comics – to which I am fairly unsure about. A lot of people want to see Planet Hulk on the big screen, but I don’t think I’m one of them.
Hulk doubtful
On the one hand, I just don’t think Planet Hulk would be the best use of the character in the Marvel Movieverse. The storyline worked fine for the comics, but a movie is a different beast entirely, especially in the Movieverse continuity. For one thing, Bruce Banner barely factors into Planet Hulk, so Ruffalo would be wasted. You better believe that matters in a big budget movie.
In the comics, Planet Hulk is a story about the Avengers sending Hulk out into space so that he can’t trouble the people of Earth anymore. Hulk winds up on a strange alien planet, where he’s immediately captured and turned into a gladiator, exactly like the gladiators of Ancient Rome. Hulk suppresses Banner so that he never has to change back, and the Big Green Machine eventually fights his way to freedom and then leads an uprising against the cruel regime that imprisoned him. It’s a pretty standard storyline, but the bare bones approach of Hulk smashing everything to freedom really appealed to readers.
So good!
But I don’t want this adapted to film (other than the cartoon adaptation they already made). The story is as basic as it gets: Hulk as a gladiator. There is little depth to the Hulk or his characterization. He doesn’t like being controlled, so he breaks free and then takes the fight to the people who tried to control him. He makes a bunch of friends along the way, and finds love, but it’s just the Hulk smashing everything until he wins, and that’s not my kind of movie.
I prefer my Hulk set firmly in the context of Earth, where HULK IS THE STRONGEST THERE IS! If you plop the Hulk into the world of Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s just another freaky looking alien. And if you take away Banner, that makes it even worse, and Hulk becomes even less human. Do we really want Mark Ruffalo running around on some alien gladiator planet? Doesn’t he work better as the nerdy science guy on Earth?
A handsome nerdy science guy
On the other hand, Hulk has already had two mediocre outings that kept him on Earth. Sending him into space would be new and interesting. I will go on record as a fan of both Ang Lee’s Hulk in 2003 and the Edward Norton reboot in 2008, which is an often-ignored part of the wider Movieverse. But society as a whole isn’t too favorable to either film. They outright dislike Lee’s film, and generally ignore the Norton movie. Both were about Bruce Banner as a tortured soul, where being the Hulk was a great curse that he tried to cure.
That’s why Joss Whedon got the character right in The Avengers. In that film, the Hulk was embraced, treated as something useful and fun. Sure, Banner was still bothered by having to become the Hulk, but by the end, both he and the Big Green Guy were embraced by their fellow heroes, and Hulk was instrumental in saving the day.
That’s the Hulk I want to see in future films.
I don’t want to watch the Avengers or anyone else send Hulk off into space to get rid of him. I don’t want to see Banner and friends spend their lives trying to cure the Hulk. I want to see a movie where Banner embraces the Hulk in the context of life on Earth, where he remains the strongest person alive, but also fallibly human.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought due to awesomeness…
I don’t exactly have any ideas beyond that. But there are decades worth of great Hulk stories out there. People only remember ‘Planet Hulk’ because it was recent, and there haven’t been any Hulk stories as notable since. But these movies no longer rely on any sort of direct adaptation. Most of the new Marvel movies are original stories, borrowing freely from the comics to make something uniquely their own.
The Hulk is in just such a position. Planet Hulk would be a rote adaptation for the breakout star of the franchise. There’s no doubt that the character is going to explode all over again in next year’s Age of Ultron.
After that, Hulk is going to be too big to just sit around playing gladiator games.
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What If Michael Bay Had Directed Pixar’s ‘Up’
This isn’t your daddy’s mash-up trailer. Youtuber MrStratman7 went above and beyond with this bit of silliness. Can you tell how? It’s not that hard. My hat is off to you, you crazy Internet madman!
