Comics
Review: Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m not the biggest fan of DC Comics, or even Batman (a few of the movies withstanding), but this story gripped me and held me so that I couldn’t put it down. The art is not entirely my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed some of the ways in which it was carried out — the book requires you to turn it sideways and upside down to follow the story at one point, which I thought reflected that part of the story perfectly. Snyder’s story is an exciting reimagining of the Batman mythos, and I can’t wait for the next volume to come out!
Five Fists of Science
Isn't that millionaire playboy Nikola Tesla?
Nigh on a lifetime ago, I borrowed a TPB from my friend. Although he assured me that I would love it and I should read it right away, it fell into a pile of all the *other* comics on which I’d fallen behind and I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t read it until last weekend.
Well, I am an idiot. I could have been enjoying this clever, steampunkish romp for ages and I didn’t. This comic really was tailor made for an audience just like me. The art is dark and richly coloured, the writing is clever and firmly rooted in history (the quirks and foibles of two of my favorite geniuses ring very true, and I’m pretty sure Edison was a warlock in real life, too) and best of all: SCIENCE.
Next time I will listen to Matt, and remember why I have a print of this on my wall:
Nikola Tesla mad for science and the ladies mad for Nikola Tesla
“You must promise to never touch me ever again. … Now take off your clothes.”
- Nikola Tesla, Five Fists of Science
Fan Trailer: Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion)
If you haven’t seen this yet, you owe it to yourself to press play on the video below. Youtuber Jaronpitts created this drool-worthy fan trailer of an imaginary Green Lantern movie starring Nathan Fillion. It’s so authentic, that if it all didn’t feel a little geekily familar (the sounds and images he’s manipulated are CHOICE), I could swear this was the real deal.
I want this movie to happen. Make it so.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Summer movie season has begun! May starts with a bang this year, and marks the beginning of a month where I will be at the theatre every single weekend. First up on the agenda, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I caught the midnight show last night; crowds at those shows are the best, so hopefully my review isn’t too swayed by my enjoyment of the audience reactions (my favourite was when Wolverine says, “I’m Canadian,” and one person applauded).
I tried not to get my hopes built up unreasonably high for this movie, and it paid off. The movie was one hundred and seven minutes of kickass action, with humour, drama, and ridiculously hot men peppered in (seriously, take your girlfriend, because she’ll leave this movie feeling rather ‘excited.’ I’ve been crazy in love with Remy LeBeau for as long as I can remember, and Taylor Kitsch… meow!) Overall, not a bad movie, and definitely much better than X3.
And now the other shoe drops. I freely admit that I haven’t read the Wolverine Origins comics yet, and some of my Marvel history is a little sketchy. However, from what I do remember, the ending of this movie takes the Deadpool story and takes it on a “WTF” journey that smashes his origins as I remember them into smithereens. Colour me seriously unimpressed!
Marvel, you may begin making this up to me by starting work on a Deadpool standalone feature. Go to it. 3/5
Second viewing edit: Possibly some spoiler-y stuff to follow.
I did see it again today. Yes, I’m a super nerd, and I go with people in shifts so that I can maximize my nerd action. After another viewing, I have to say that a lot of my initial sentiment carries on. The weird origin of Deadpool, the ‘reinvention’ of characters, the lack of character development, the vaguely chintzy special effects… and by the end of the movie, I thought about kneeling on the floor and screaming “NOOOOOOO!” at the ceiling, since that’s the general Wolverine reaction to anything. Now, I’m willing to forgive lapses in canon as I remember it; with such a long running series, that’s unavoidable. But I wish that they had made the movie longer (at less than two hours, there was definitely some room to expand) and fleshed out the story and the character development a lot more. Less completely unnecessary “hey, remember this mutant?” cameos would have freed up some time for plot development. Again, though, I want to emphasize that the main actors are working so hard, and inhabiting their roles so well, that I can’t find it in my heart to fault the movie too badly. Jackman and Schreiber, at least, appear to be enjoying the hell out of themselves through the whole journey.
And so, I think my rating stands. I came, I saw, I nitpicked… but I was entertained. I shouldn’t worry too much anyway… by this time next week, all of these nerdly brain cells will be focussed on reacting to Star Trek.
Wolverine Noir #1
This is my first foray into the realm of Marvel’s Noir stories, which I’ve been avoiding so far based on a healthy dose of skepticism. Marvel superheroes, without powers, crammed into film noir lives of hardboiled crime? Definitely iffy. (I’m not reading the Daredevil run, on principle. Last time I checked, Matt Murdock was already almost-without-powers and living in a world of crime bosses.)
I was drawn into this issue because of C.P. Smith’s art; his work here is really emotive and engaging. The interplay of light and dark is incredible, and he does a great job of channeling the feeling of classic film noir films. I think he sells this series, and I hope to see a lot more of him.
Outside of the visuals, the story line deals heavily with the Wolverine mythos that was detailed in Origin, almost transferring the story verbatim. The back story takes up almost this entire opening issue, so the content isn’t quite where I’d like it to be. Considering the reviews that the other Noir runs have been getting, I can’t say that I’m overly surprised. However, I’m cautiously optimistic that this issue is setting up an interesting story arc for the remaining three. I’m willing to invest in another issue to see where things go… hey, if the story falls flat, at least there will be lush art like the pages below to pore over. 2.5/5
