This blog tracks the epic of kick-starting a whole writing career, with spies and thrillers, now saints and vampires. I cover the creative process, stuff that blows up, history, philosophy, and theology. If you like any or all of the above, you'll like this one. We talk about comic books, movies, music, and writing. Usually, all at the same time.
[Note: All Amazon links here are associate links. Which means nothing to you, but it means Declan Finn gets a few pennies for the sale. Thank you.]
Oh look, it's a comic book movie. Not a lot to say about this one. It looks bright and colorful. Heck, it looks more colorful than.... every DC movie filmed this decade. Gal Gadot, as usual, looks stunning. I never really appreciated how long her legs were until the 28 second mark -- the slit up her dress is so long, I expected her to flash the audience, but nope, still... modest? I guess. Not sure what they're doing with the blonde in the trailer. Supposedly, she'll turn into the Wonder Woman enemy Cheetah. Right now, she looks more likely to turn into Arrow's Felicity Smoake. Also, it's odd to see that Steve Trevor is back. I wonder how much of this was "He was fun, let's bring him back" and how much was "Chris Pine isn't going to have a Star Trek IV, we can hire him again..." Supposedly there's a variation of monkeypaw syndrome going on during this one, so we'll see what happens. Apparently, the primary villain is Maxwell Lord, who was only recently turned evil in the comics. He's also suffering from a bad case of 80's hair. I don't know why they set this in the 80's, since the only thing that seems period specific is the amount of people hanging out in the mall.... and Lord's hair. Ugh.
As a rule, I avoid comic books. I find most of them overpriced and under quality. The last time I went out of my way to collect comics it was J Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider Man. (No, I don't blame him for One More Day.) Right now, there is so much political crap going on in comics, or so much poor writing (See: Batman's wedding) that you can't drag me to a comic book with a ten foot pole.
But recently, I found myself making an exception for Chuck Dixon, creator of my favorite comic book villain -- Bane. Commonly known as an antagonist for Batman, Bane has been largely ill-treated in Bat-media. I find him more interesting that Batman, and more likable than the majority of Bat villains. While many of them are tragic figures (not Riddler, Joker, Catwoman and Penguin, they're arrogant, evil, and larcenous, in that order) Bane is one of the few I genuinely like. When first introduced, he was intelligent, efficient, and not half as crazy as most of the rest of the Gotham crowd. And he had a plan executed so well, I want to see DC writers try to pull it off again to see how they can Mary Sue Batman out of it this time. In short, he's a villain who plays chess and speaks Latin. Once again, DC was smart enough to get Chuck Dixon back to once more write Bane. And this time, they allowed Bane to be the main character. (I was largely happy with Forever Evil ... then they dropped the ball in the endgame.) This is Bane: Conquest.
In the dark waters off the coast of Gotham City, a mysterious crew of smugglers has made a deadly mistake--they tried to bring weapons of mass destruction into Bane's city! After tracing the illicit arms back to their source, Bane and his henchmen uncover a criminal conspiracy that seems to span the entire globe and encompass every illegal activity under the sun. But if there really is a secret empire behind all of the world's crime, Bane should--nay, must--be the one running it. And no one--not assassin cults, super-hackers, Catwoman or Batman himself--is going to stand in his way! Twenty-five years after bringing Bane to life in Batman: Knightfall, creators Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan reunite to tell the most epic tale yet of one of Batman's most dangerous foes! Collects issues #1-12.
This one puts Bane up against a worldwide criminal organization called Kobra ... If you're having flashbacks to GI Joe, please don't. They're not into the world domination business. But they do amount to the biggest crime family in existence. The execution is everything I've missed about the character, and about comic books, for quite sometime. The character is smart yet vicious. The action and the odds are over-the-top. There are cameos from terrorists and space aliens. Every frame is on point. Nothing here is gratuitous. The story arc ends with an action sequence that's one part The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, and Where Eagles Dare. This is comic books and their best. Where else are you going to have a close quarters combat duel with a mech on one end... and an unarmed man on the other?
By the end of the issue, you get to see why Bane is the best Batman "villain." It's a moment that comes after the shooting is over and all the scheming is done. It's moments like this where I think Bane should get his own series, as long as Chuck Dixon writes it and everyone in upper management leaves him alone. Amazon has it right now for (checks price) $18. For nearly 300 pages of comic books, that's a darn good deal.
Hollow City (Song of Karma, book 1), by Kai Wai Cheah is the latest in Silver Empire's superhero universe line. While it's been discussed in terms of this version of the Punisher....
This may end up as a Punisher origin story, but our hero is way, WAY too sane to be Frank Castle. The vibe as you read the novel is more Michael Connelly doing a noir superhero novel, with gun porn that outdoes Larry Correia. (No, I'm not exaggerating, and you did not misread that. Gun porn that would make Larry Correia blush).
Six kills in six years.
Super powered cop Adam Song has dedicated his life to the law. In the military and the police force, Adam ruthlessly protects the innocent.
But this time he’s killed the wrong bad guy. Now the local drug lord’s son is dead, and the boss is out for Adam’s blood. Even his secret identity won’t keep him safe. The police department hangs him out to dry, his years of exemplary service forgotten. Adam must take justice into his own hands to keep his family safe.
Because Adam is a Song. And Songs take care of their own. No matter the cost.
When does justice become murder? And just how far will he go to protect his clan?
Dragon and Hugo Award nominated author Kai Wai Cheah steps onto the superhero scene with his debut Heroes Unleashed novel. His characteristic fast-paced action and attention to detail brings Adam Song and the Chinatown of Hollow City vividly to life.
What makes a straight-laced hero cop go rogue? Buy the book or read it in Kindle Unlimited today to find out!
Imagine if Baen did a superhero novel and it was one part Connelly, one part Correia. You've got smart police tactics by a superpowered former soldier as part of a SWAT team, but you also have the problems of the politics of "Primes" (they're not supeheroes or mutants, they're Primes). It becomes an interesting mix of politics, powers and police. When I reference Michael Connelly, most people should think of his hero, Harry Bosch (yes, now an Amazon Prime show). And the police department in Halo City is very much like the corrupt, politics-ridden (but I repeat myself) legal system of Bosch's LA. It helps with the noir feel of the novel, as it constantly refers to Halo City as the Hollow City, dark, soulless and corrupt....
You know, Chicago.
(Okay, if you're looking for a direct parallel, it's probably if San Francisco were run by Chicago politicians, down to the demographics, and "Grand Park" instead of SF's Grant Park.)
Once again, as with the first book in the series, (Morgon Newquist's "Heroes United") it's a superhero world that feels very real. Screwups are not tolerated, leaving a realistic feel to the narration -- such as referring to an egomaniac "hero" who was going to livestream an arrest... so the criminal set a trap and put three rounds in the sucker's face. Stupidity is its own death penalty. The politics are realistic enough to make me want to strangle the politicians -- even down to having a Black Lives Matter group that's against Primes. And I love the line "Politics is never personal until it happens to you," I may need to steal it.
And the tactics are solid. The guns are detailed and make sense given the use of force required. The fact that Adam has three guns, as well as a taser, is one of the better carry policies I've seen of a hero in a novel for some time.
The world building is solid. The tactics are great. The character is also well developed. Publicly, Adam Song seems to have the powers of Marvel's Bullseye -- he always hits what he aims for, with preternatural reaction time. That's what everyone else thinks, too. But it goes beyond that, and he has a very simple, straightforward approach to handling everything -- it's handled by the book. I love the byplay between what the public thinks he can do, what he says he can do, and what he actually can do. It's the usually conflict of the civilian mindset versus the mindset of people who actually get shot at with some regularity. I had to look up his Amazon bio to make certain that Kai Wai Cheah hadn't served in law enforcement or the military.
And then there's our hero's family... I await someone to bitch about Kai Wai Cheah using "Asian stereotypes" as he writes his novel in his native Singapore. Heh.
There are a bunch of cute bits as well. They're not SWAT teams, but STAR teams (Resident Evil, anyone?). The investigator is Herbert Franks (cute Cheah. Very cute). Cheah also has bullet storm haiku... no, I'm NOT kidding.
Short version: If Harry Bosch were an Asian superhero, and Michael Connelly had a sense of humor, this is the book you'd end up with -- a Superhero Baen novel. If you enjoy anything put out by Baen, or Harry Bosch, or Astro City, or Jon Bernthal's portrayal of the Punisher in Daredevil, you're probably going to enjoy this one.
My only problem? There is a bit of a cliffhanger. But then again, it did say book 1. For some reason, it does NOT piss me off anywhere near as much as others have.
People keep trying to give us "realistic superheroes."
I think the trend may have started with "Watchmen," which frankly told me more of what was in the soul of Alan Moore than said anything about the superhero genre. A better example (I'm told) is Kurt Busiek's Astro City, which addresses themes such as a man who becomes a superhero to find redemption, or even the legalities of X-Ray vision and super senses.
Here's the successor.
For those of you who long for the days when comic books were actually entertaining, and the most angst you were subjected to was the occasional Spider Man nervous breakdown, welcome to Heroes Fall, Serenity City, book 1, by Morgon Newquist.
We open with The Rampage, a mission where Superman, Batman and .... Iron Fist, I guess.... goes horribly, horribly wrong. One is murdered, the other goes mad, and only one is left standing.
Sounds like fun ... except this isn't a comic book crossover. This is Morgon's new world of heroes and villains. The heroes are Achilles, Pendragon and Banshee. And an epic battle of massive destruction throughout the city
He wanted to be a good man. Instead he became a hero.
Twenty years ago, Serenity City's great Triumvirate of heroes - Achilles, the Banshee, and Pendragon - maintained a golden age of peace and prosperity. Then, in an instant, it all went wrong. The city's mightiest champion, Achilles, lost his mind during a showdown with the enigmatic supervillain Thanatos and went on a rampage across the city, leaving the Banshee dead and a swath of destruction in his wake before Pendragon could stop him.
Today, as Achilles rots in solitary confinement, Victoria Westerdale investigates a new mystery. Why are young and forgotten heroes disappearing off the streets? Why doesn't anybody else care? And how is it tied in to those infamous events that brought the city's greatest heroes to ruin?
And what's going to happen to them all after Achilles escapes?
The first of a new wave of superhero novels! Coming soon:
Hollow City from Dragon Award nominee Kai Wai Cheah
The Phoenix Ring from Jon Mollison
Gemini Man from J.D. Cowan
Atlantean Archons from Richard W Watts
So, yeah, this one was fun. It starts strong, introducing plenty of side characters (even throwaway characters) effortlessly. It was a Hell of a way to open.
Despite the amount of time the blurb spent on the setup, 90% of the story focuses on Victory Westerdale. She doesn't want to be a superhero, just a simple, straightforward hero who saves people and goes back to the daily nine to five. Victory's powers are like Jessica Jones, if the latter weren't a raving bitch. It's mostly a mystery set in a new and improved Astro City. And I can't say a whole heck of a lot without spoiling it, so I won't.
I like the breakdown of the superhero class structure. No, we're not going into class warfare here, merely a practical approach to superheroes. DC and Marvel comics are truly unrealistic -- that only one superhero (Booster Gold, IIRC) -- seems to be offered or has desires for fame and notoriety. In the world of Serenity City, everyone wants to climb the hero totem pole. It's a competitive culture for the next brand endorsement, coming with a good paycheck. And there are some of those heroes who are Iron Man narcissistic and some who are simply saving people and heroing, and taking cash because they'll take all the help they can get. Of course, this environment means that no one really teams up, but considering how many times the JSA and the JLA have broken up, is anyone surprised when heroes can't get along?
The villain of the piece ... there are two. They're both fairly well developed, though one has barely any screen time. If you're wondering how that happens, it's largely because of the quality of the "evil plan." One is a narrative underdog, and the other is a cunning master manipulator. One comes off as David Tennant's Kilgrave, and the other is trying to do "good" for noble reasons, but has all the skills and talents of Richard III, or the MCU's Civil War villain. It's a bit of a train wreck, with a moral quandary that had only one solution.
At the end of the day, fans of the superhero genre should recognize the occasional tip of the hat to everything from The Dark Knight to Astro City to Green Hornet. That would be a spoiler if you could get the permutations right. We have Alfred with superpowers. A character named Ash who I suspect could be played by Bruce Campbell. A healer hero named Panacea (yes, really). A hero lawyer with the ability to cloud men's minds. And oh dear me, we're going to have a realistic portrayl of what it would be like as a superhero, only none of this grim and gritty Alan Moore BS? Be still my heart.
Also acknowledging that Batman basically has a superpower. Long story. But the description of the bat cave here will have you playing the Danny Elfman score from the Batman film in head.
Of course, Morgon gets her martial arts right. If she didn't, I think everyone who knows her would worry. And she does a good job of playing superhero chess -- how does Y superhero use X powers against Z and Z's powers. Even the execution of powers are well thought out.
Also, Morgon has a degree in Latin, so expect a ton of quotes and references from ... everyone. Peter Pan, The Aenid, The Illiad, The Odyssey, Greek myth, Roman myth, a few other myths. I do so enjoy it when the authors I read actively read other people .... and steal from them. It warms my heart. You get little bits like "He is Lancelot, not Arthur. Byt even Lancelot is better than Mordred."
And the moral of the story, as it usually is in classical mythology -- Pride kills.
“It’s time to rebuild DC Vertigo. We’re returning to our roots by spotlighting the most exciting new voices in comics, as well as bringing new voices to comics. From the corners of television, games, music, activism, podcasting, comics and more, all of our creators are passionate and have something to say. These sophisticated stories have amazing new characters and vast worlds to explore. That’s what it has always been about for me—new stories, new voices, new possibilities. We’re creating a new generation of DC Vertigo classics for readers of all genres.”
The DC Vertigo brand will expand its slate with seven new series: Border Town, Hex Wives, American Carnage, Goddess Mode, High Level, Safe Sex, and Second Coming.
Border Town?
“When a crack in the border between worlds releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore into the small town of Devil’s Fork, Arizona, the residents blame the ensuing weirdness—the shared nightmares, the otherworldly radio transmissions, the mysterious goat mutilations—on “God-dang illegals.” With racial tensions supernaturally charged, it’s up to new kid in town Frank Dominguez and a motley crew of high school misfits to discover what’s REALLY going on.”
I'm not sure what's worse -- the inherent racism in assuming that every resident of Arizona is an "ignorant redneck" who assumes that every Hispanic is Illegal / Mexican / whatever is scum; the cliche of "motley crew of high school misfits" to the rescue, (thanks, I saw Buffy the first time) or that someone probably wanted to cook up a "This will piss off Trump" storyline.
Sad thing this, they could have made a halfway decent Buffy retread if some of the obvious idiocies weren't so blatant.
Hex Wives? Oh dear, this isn't going to go well, is it?
“The women are too powerful. They must be tamed.” A malevolent conspiracy of men brainwashes a coven of witches to be subservient, suburban housewives. But it’s only a matter of time before the women remember their power…
......
So .... are they trying to turn "witches" into some sort of "female empowerment" allegory? Because, yes, that's just want I wanted -- SATANIC RITUALS IN MY HEROES. For the love of ....
And yes, Satanic. I saw the cover. Pentagrams and everything.
Oh yay. Shoot me now, really.
I'm afraid to even ask about "American Carnage."
“In this thrilling crime saga, disgraced FBI agent Richard Wright, who is biracial but can pass for white, goes undercover in a white supremacist group believed to be responsible for the death of a fellow agent.”
WILL YOU PEOPLE STOP WITH THE WHITE SUPREMACIST BS! Those stories were done to death in the 90s. Like high school shooters, all you're doing is giving the actual three dozen white supremacists some encouragement and giving them disproportionate attention.
Also, if they had any sense of reality, what they would do is have the murdered "fellow agent" have been killed by another undercover officer.
Like this
Sigh...
Now, what fresh Hell is coming next?
"Goddess Mode"...
This will be as bad as Hex Wives, won't it?
“In a near future where all of humanity’s needs are administered by a godlike A.I., it’s one young woman’s horrible job to do tech support on it. But when Cassandra finds herself violently drawn into a hidden and deadly digital world beneath our own, she discovers a group of super-powered women and horrific monsters locked in a secret war for the cheat codes to reality.”
I'm just going to guess that all of the monsters are men. Because we didn't have enough 1970s pseudo feminism kicking around.
Funny enough, most of those were objects of ridicule because they were self parody. They're still just as insane, but they're taking it seriously now?
Oh, and it's written by Zoe Quinn, friend and fan of Gamer Gate supporters everywhere.... not.
High Level, ... I'm sure this will end well.
“Hundreds of years after the world ended and human society was rebuilt from scratch, a self-interested smuggler with a price on her head is forced to traverse a new continent of danger and mystery to deliver a child messiah to High Level, a mythical city at the top of the world from which no one has ever returned.”
I'm not sure what's worse here: a "messiah" or more "end of the world" BS.
Safe Sex
“A dystopian sci-fi thriller about a ragtag team of sex workers fighting for the freedom to love in a world where sexual pleasure is monitored, regulated and policed by the government.”
DC Comics! Your last best hope to encourage sex trafficking! Because all sex workers are doing it willingly....
Guys, even the people who are doing it willingly aren't all doing it willingly. A good chunk are doing it because THEY HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU IDIOTS!!!!!!!
Second Coming... oh, now what?
“God sends Jesus to Earth in hopes that he will learn the family trade from Sun-Man, an all-powerful superhero, who is like the varsity quarterback son God never had. But, upon his return to Earth, Christ is appalled to discover what has become of his Gospel and vows to set the record right.”
Let me guess, all of the eeeeevvvvviiiilllll Christians are Trump supporters, interchangeable with the Westboro Baptist Church, and "love" means accepting every vile sin on the books.
I can't even begin to wrap my brain around this. It's like every lefty /Socialist talking point ever.
Toxic feminism? Check.
Anti-borders? Check.
Anti-Christian? Check.
LBGTQXYZ? Check.
Ray-cis! Check
Screw it. Here, have my novels. Which have sexy badass heroines without being super-annoying Waif-Fu, and actually feminine. Filled with action, super-heroics, actual Christianity, and explosions.
This was a very nice two-hour television pilot with a lot of special effects, and a plot barely strong enough to hold the film together. If it were compared to Marvel films, I would say it was on part with Thor, the first one. This review will discuss a plot point in the review, though, I don't think I can spoil anything. In case you haven't guessed already, Superman will be coming back from the dead, and the villain will not destroy Earth--he can't, this is only the start of the franchise.
Premise: an alien threat called Steppenwolf has come to Earth after an attempt to conquer the planet in the days that time forgot. When he was driven off the planet the first time, he left three MacGuffin devices called Mother Boxes that he can use to reshape any planet to his wishes. If he gets his hands on the Mother Boxes, it's game over. Batfleck (sorry, Batman, played by Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman have to assemble the World's Mightiest Heroes (Trademark, Marvel) to find the Mother Boxes, and stop Steppenwolf.
Yes, Steppenwolf is Sauron, and the mother boxes are the Infinity Stones / One Ring / Genesis device.
For the record, that's the plot. The entire plot. Steppenwolf is a killing machine out to rule everything, and he's going to get the Mother boxes. That's his motivation, character, and arc. I literally can't even pad his appearance anymore. Unlike other people, I didn't mind his CGI form ... though I did object to the lip sync. Did anyone else think the mouth didn't match the dialogue?
But Steppenwolf is such a small part of this movie, he's barely worth talking about.
This film is ... okay, with a lot of great scenes. And the scenes are what keep this film from being a total failure.
Ezra Miller as The Flash is remarkably charming as "awkward nerd." And it's clear that he, like everyone else, is as the start of his hero career. And, no, we HAVEN'T seen all of the various and sundry good bits in the trailers.
... But you can find them on YouTube.
Jason Momoa's Aquaman had several fun parts, and they definitely don't want to go anywhere near the blond in the orange scales as seen in Superfriends. I think someone concluded that they had a show stopper here, and they let him try to stop the show. The best bit is him waxing on about how yeah, they're going to die, but it's a good cause to go out for as long as they stop Steppenwolf, etc etc, and it goes on for nearly two minutes ... before he realizes he's sitting on the lasso of truth.
Batfleck works a lot more than I thought he would. And he is definitely the "I'm getting too old for this" Batman as he gets beaten up, a lot. But you can believe he's Batman. You might even believe him as Bruce Wayne. There's exactly one line of dialogue I would have had rewritten, but otherwise, he was spot on.
Wonder Woman... Gal Gadot still surprises as Wonder Woman. She just works. I don't know why, she does. And she has good chemistry with Batfleck -- not sexual chemistry, though Alfred does make fun of Batman for being interested in her, despite no visible interest when the two are on screen together.
And I will compliment Ray Fisher's Cyborg / Victor Stone as being a great performance, acting through heavy CGI on his face.
So that's that positives in this one: the team is the strength here. The characters interacting is the main joy in this film. As for the overall film eh. There is no tension here. It's a world-ending threat, yet the biggest sense of danger in the movie was from ... Superman. Yes, went they bring Superman back from the dead, he wakes up cranky, and you genuinely believe that he's going to rip Batman's head off. But outside of that...wait, is Superman smiling? He's not allowed to smile! This is a Zack Snyder movie! I might actually believe this guy is Superman. But, again, downside: Henry Cavill's resurrection as Superman was so strange, and added so little, all I could think is "If this is the payoff, why did they kill him in the first place?"
And there is so much that's just off here. For example, Victor Stone becomes Cyborg after being in an accident that kills his mother, and his father uses the Mother Box to bring him back from the dead with machine parts. There's a lot of dramatic potential here. Victor feels like a freak and an outcast. He resents his father for keeping him alive like, this, and he hears an alien voice in his head from the mother box computer code. He's even cranky to Wonder Woman. Then, Cyborg's father is kidnapped by our villain. His father is saved, and Victor is on the team .... and he disappears from the rest of the film. Poof, he's gone. I've seen damsels in distress who have had more screen time. So much dramatic tension is drained from the film, and the character.
There's a lot of that going around. There's a scene with Wonder Woman and Batman after one battle that's just the two of them. There were several ways the scene could have gone, from "I'm too old for this" to "This is why we need the superpowered everybody: I'm breakable" to just following through on the romantic tension between the two of them that was clearly supposed to be in the movie.
I know that Justice League had reshoots, possibly even the final edits, done by Joss Whedon. He even has a writing credit here. Whedon started his career as a script doctor. The writer credited for Speed has said that Whedon rewrote most of the dialogue. So you'd think that if there were problems here, Whedon would fix it. No matter his personal issues, he doesn't suck at his job. But it's clear that there were instructions for the film to be exactly 120 minutes, and there are a lot of scenes where you can see the danging threads from where there were obvious cuts. If there's an extended edition, I'll try it.
Over all, the execution was serviceable. But it's Justice League. It should have been more than that. Technically, we didn't need dramatic, we needed grand and big, and we didn't get that. Don't get me wrong, it generally works. The main characters were likable. But there are things like plot, and tension. Hint: we shouldn't have more tension from a hero than the world-ending villain.
And why is the only person in the entire film to say "League" is Lex Luthor in the after-credits scene?
Taken together, I think this is a case where the sum is not greater than the finished product. The individual scenes and moments and little touches in this one are better than the film as a whole. And while I hate using this phrase... ahem... IF THEY'RE SMART... this is a way for them to skip all of the origin stories in the individual movies, which is a good move, but there should have been more in this film.
I don't think you need to see this one on the big screen in order to appreciate it. Save your money, watch it on DVD. It's cheaper than evening tickets for two to the theater.
