Earth 2: World’s End #3 Written by: Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, & Mike Johnson Art by: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Tyler Kirkham, Joe Weems, Eduardo Pansica,Jaime Mendoza, Jorge Jimenez, Paulo Siqueria, & Cam Smith Published by DC Comics This week’s issue of Earth 2: World’s End is where some problems with the series as …
Gotham has done fairly well, so far, at integrating its cases of the week with its overarching storyline, with last week’s “Arkham” being one of the most momentous episodes yet in moving the season narrative forward, but with “Viper”, the tandem plots fail to blend together with the same consistency. The campy concept of the Viper drug, which gives super strength to its victims before destroying their bone density, could’ve worked if only the writers had decided not to display the victims’ feats of strength with such poorly executed and cartoonish special effects. What Gotham has done well in previous episodes is present a campy idea with a truly gritty noir tone, but the way that these super powered victims are realized, they look more like they belong on the set of Smallville rather than the pulp setting that this series embodies.
Earth 2: World’s End #2 Written by Mike Johnson, Marguerite Bennett, & Daniel H. Wilson Art by Paulo Siqueira, Tyler Kirkham, & Eddy Barrows Published by DC Comics World’s End continues from its stellar first issue. Earth 2’s short lived peace ends as four new foes arrive bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Horsemen of …
With the launch of a weekly series, Earth 2 marches onward with Tom Taylor at the helm alongside Earth 2: World’s End co-writer, Marguerite Bennett. Sadly, this issue marks the departure of long term artist Nicola Scott, who is replaced by Andy Smith. His work is commendable, but isn’t quite able to leave the Nicola Scott shaped hole in the series.
After spending a year developing the origin and mythos of Batman, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo turn him loose in Batman #35 and show him at his prime fighting some of Earth’s mightiest heroes. The scale of the comic is huge as Batman battles the various Justice League members, and Capullo’s art shows their might in comparison to Batman’s mortality. The comic opens at the Royal Theatre in Gotham, which has spent lots of money on a special crane so there can be a literal “deus ex machina” in a staging of the Oresteia. Snyder and Capullo stage their narrative like a Greek tragedy giving Batman his own fatal flaw in the story. From Batman #35, it seems that the “Endgame” will be looking at Batman as legend while having many twists and turns along the way. Snyder does a good job showing Batman’s unique contingency plans for stopping the Justice League while Capullo shows them in action from Wonder Woman’s window breaking power to Flash’s crackling super speed. If anything, Batman #35 is an argument for why Greg Capullo should draw Justice League. FCO Plascencia continues to set the mood with his colors from the mix of somber and bright coloring in the theatre to Batman’s shadowy greys and blacks and the various color schemes for the Justice League members.
Batman is one of the most iconic comic book superheroes of all time and has been amongst the pop culture zeitgeist for, at most, three quarters of a century, being adapted into all kinds of media from novels to video games and of course, to film and television. Strangely enough, as popular as the hero has been throughout the decades, the character has had very little time on the live action small screen. Even now, in this newest retelling of his origin story, Batman himself is not expected to make a full costumed appearance. Instead we are introduced to all the tangential characters that surround the Batman mythology and formulate Batman’s allies and foes.
Gotham is only one of the many additions to the booming rise of comic book television series and it’s looking as if there will be more to come following the news of latest acquisitions of comic book properties Lucifer by FOX, Titans by TNT and Supergirl by CBS. Amidst the many comic properties that are …
After a couple of photos of the new Batmobile leaked from the set today, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder was quick to distract everyone from the leaks with the first official look. Tweeted out from the director’s official account, the photo was taken with a Nikon D800 at 500 ISO, 24mm, f/11, …
In the pantheon of unarguably great comics, Warren Ellis’ Planetary holds a permanent seat, being both devilishly clever in its premise and magnificent in its execution. For some 27 issues Ellis, along with artist John Cassaday (with occasional help) opened the chest cavity of 20th century genre fiction, performing the most reverent, respectful and gleeful autopsy known in either fiction or reality. Pulp adventure crimebusters, comic book superheroes, kung-fu cinema, Kaiju Eiga, and more came under Ellis’ knife, both tied together in one beautiful circulatory system and carefully extracted and brought gleaming like new into the light of day. There was also one issue with Batman in it, and it kicked a lot of arse.
Batman Year One was the first Batman (and DC) comic I read back in 2010. The things that stood out to me were the poetic nature of Frank Miller’s writing (mainly the caption boxes), the parts that Batman Begins homaged, and how Jim Gordon seemed to have more page time than Batman. After rereading this story a few times over the year, I realized that Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli could have named this story “Jim Gordon Year One” and his ups and downs as he goes from a do-gooder cop from Chicago to an overworked Gotham policeman who has an affair with one of his co-workers to an ally of Batman. His character arc is just as compelling and more down to earth than Batman’s. Letterer Todd Klein shows this more grounded story by using more traditional letters in contrast with the fancy cursive script he uses for Batman’s caption boxes. However, both characters have their share of great moments in “Batman Year One”, which is also a little bit of an origin story for Selina Kyle’s Catwoman too. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this highlight reel of the best parts of “Batman Year One” in chronological order.
For almost 50 years, Batman has graced the silver screen. Whether working solo or accompanied by sidekicks and associates, Gotham City is continually saved by his enduring presence. Even though the eight theatrical live-action films featuring the Caped Crusader have had their ups and downs, there is no denying his appeal as a lead character. …
“’Alfred’ – he said not long ago – ‘if anyone ever asks for an obituary, tell them Batman’s big secret was a classic Whodunnit(?)… Only it’s not about who killed Batman, but who kept him alive all these years.’ And he stopped there, leaving the rest to me.” The ending of Batman #683, a monologue …
You’ve got to feel sorry for Beenox.
Tasked with taking over the reigns of the Spider-man franchise from Treyarch, it was perhaps less pulling the plane out of a dive, more digging ol’ web-head up out of the ground and reanimating him. For years, Treyarch’s output had been precisely what people expected from a series of video games based on a comic book. Weird story lines that crammed as many characters as possible; corridors of identi-kit baddies; a horrible fighting system; bland graphics. The epitome of a 6/10.
“What are you?’ That question has been on many a criminal’s mind for numerous decades. Out of absolute fear, these evildoers stare into the face of darkness personified, a creature of the night that is a true symbol of justice. I’m talking of course about Batman, the Dark Knight, a crimefighter who strikes fear into …
For a few months, Batwoman, who had been recently revamped as a lesbian and former US Army cadet, headlined DC Comics’ flagship book Detective Comics. Kate Kane made her debut as Batwoman in 52 #7 and played a big part in the weekly series helping her ex-girlfriend Renee Montoya and the Question track down the followers of the Crime Bible.
As far as most people can tell, though the actual chronology tends to get confusing, it all started with the late Andrew Brietbart. In between the right wing of American politics stomping up and down about Hollywood liberals like George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, occasionally they take a break and instead summarily hijack a beloved …
When you collect your wits at last and begin to look at the mess with something approaching rationalization, you will be hard pressed to find a satisfying single explanation for just what the hell was intended, aside from epic failure, with Batman & Robin.
In 1960 Bill Finger wrote a Batman story involving a South American rebel group releasing a mysterious “Rainbow Creature” composed of red, green, yellow, and blue on an unsuspecting rural village. Each color holds a power, when a power is used the associated color fades to white. Batman and Robin eventually devise a plan to …
Batman: Knightfall Written by Various Art by Various Published by DC Comics It has long been argued, and rightfully so, that the Batman has the strongest rogues gallery in the biz. From the psychotic mirror image of the Joker, to his fractured former ally Two-Face. From the intellectual prowess of the Riddler to the shocking …
We are incorporating two elements here in the Caped Crusader’s universe: applying the Batman 60’s ABC-TV show (1966-1968/3 seasons) with the Batman film franchise (1989 and beyond). The link that we are looking for to connect Batman’s cheesy television past and its current and future filming state of mind is the conception of repackaging the Dynamic Duo’s cartoonish villains from the …
Before Rocksteady got a hold of the Batman franchise, the Dark Knight, like many of his superhero contemporaries, had only starred in games which were passable at best. That all changed in 2009 though, with the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
It’s time that we get over the Dark Knight Trilogy. Yes The Dark Knight is a great movie. But Batman Begins is just a good movie and The Dark Knight Rises with it’s absurd plot holes and magic orphan vision is like Prometheus with a cape. The fundamental problem with Nolan’s ultra-realism is that it can’t support …
Disclaimer: Before we get started, if you haven’t read The Killing Joke, stop reading this and run down to your local comic shop and pick it up. You won’t be disappointed. Ok, all caught up? If not *SPOILERS* for a 26 year old book… Ever since it’s release in 1988, people have been debating the end …