Full review posted to comixtreme.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: Brightest Day (Event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe, Green Lantern | Tagged: Adam Schlagman, Blackest Night, brightest day, Christian Alamy, Comic Reviews, cxPulp.com, DC, DC Comics, Doug Mahnke, Eddie Berganza, Geoff Johns, Green Lantern, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, New Guardians, Nick J. Napolitano, Randy Mayor | Leave a comment »
Last November, DC put out a bunch of different-colored plastic rings, each bearing the symbol of a different Lantern Corps, and each tied to an issue of a Blackest Night tie-in comic; in my experience, stores passed along the tie in that if you bought the comic the rings were provided with, you got a ring. One store I know of offered the rings by themselves for $3.99–presumably to suggest you might as well take the comic, which was $3.99 and then get the ring “free.”
Back in January, DC had posted about a follow-up to the “Rainbow Corps” ring promotion: a Flash ring would be available with The Flash #1.
A Green Lantern ring was also announced, which I’d assumed would be identical to what was available before.
And here they are. As I understand, there will be a White ring available when Brightest Day #1 ships next month. Still no word about that Legion ring I’ve said I’d love to see…but with all this bling so far, I can’t see there not being one. Eventually.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: brightest day, DC, DC Comics, Flash, Flash #1, Flash Ring, Green Lantern, Green Lantern #53, Green Lantern Ring, plastic rings, rings, The Flash | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to comixtreme.com.
Story: 4.5/5
Art: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: Brightest Day, Brightest Day (Event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe | Tagged: Adam Schlagman, Aquaman, Art Thibert, Beth Sotelo, Blackest Night, Boomerang, brightest day, Cam Smith, Carpe Diem, Comic Reviews, David Finch, DC, DC Comics, Deadman, Dexter Vines, Eddie Berganza, Fernando Pasarin, Firestorm, Flash, Geoff Johns, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Jade, John Dell, Maxwell Lord, Nick J. Napolitano, Osiris, Peter J. Tomasi, Peter Steigerwald, Prentis ROllins, Rex Ogle, Scott Williams, Star City, Thawne, White Lantern | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to comixtreme.com.
Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Filed under: Blackest Night, Blackest Night (Event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe | Tagged: Adam Schlagman, Alex Sinclair, Aquaman, Blackest Night, Blackest Night Conclusion, Blackest Night ending, brightest day, Comic Reviews, Conclusion to Blackest Night, cxPulp.com, DC, DC Comics, Deadman, Eddie Berganza, Ending of Blackest Night, Entity, Geoff Johns, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Hawkman, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Maxwell Lord, Nekron, Nick J. Napolitano, Oclair Albert, Osiris, White Lantern, White Lanterns | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to comixtreme.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: Blackest Night (Event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe, Green Lantern | Tagged: Adam Schlagman, Blackest Night, Carrie Strachan, Christian Alamy, Comic Reviews, cxPulp.com, DC, DC Comics, Doug Mahnke, Eddie Berganza, Gabe Eltaeb, Geoff Johns, Green Lantern, Keith Champagne, Life Blood, Nekron, Randy Mayor, Rebecca Buchman, Rob Leigh, Sinestro, White Lantern, Xanshi | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to comixtreme.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: Blackest Night, Blackest Night (Event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe | Tagged: Adam Schlagman, Alex Sinclair, Blackest Night, Blackest Night #7, blue lantern, Comic Reviews, cxPulp.com, DC, DC Comics, Eddie Berganza, Geoff Johns, Green Lantern, Guardians of the Universe, Hal Jordan, Indigo Lantern, Indigo Tribe, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Nekron, New Guardians, Nick J. Napolitano, Oclair Albert, Orange Lantern, Red Lantern, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, violet lantern, White Lantern, yellow lantern | Leave a comment »
A “bonus” feature (as far as I can tell, included with the barebones DVD, the special edition DVD, and the BluRay) is an animated short starring The Spectre.
This is a bit of an unusual piece to me–I’ve really only known the character as the primal/cosmic/universal force-of-naturehe’s been for the last 10 1/2 years. This short focuses on the character with Jim Corrigan as his “host,” where Corrigan grounds the Spirit of Vengeance a bit.
This short delves into some dark, disturbing territory…whether intentionally going there or taking advantage of less restriction due to being packaged with a PG-13 animated film, I’m not sure.
Not being particularly familiar with a down-to-Earth Spectre, I found it to be less interesting than I’d prefer in and of itself…but it’s still fairly interesting being exposed to this version of the character.
There’s also a preview of the next DC Universe project…Batman: Under the Red Hood, which is based on the 2003/2004 Under the Hood arc in the Batman comics.
While I have never bought into the “Return of Jason Todd” and everything that’s been done with that character for more than half a decade…as an animated project, it looks like this one has potential…at the least, this preview/”First Look” sold me on the concept. A large part of that, I think, is that it looks like the film will include material taken from A Death in the Family, which will more closely tie the Under the Hood story to that prior one, making it work as a unified whole in the film where it still has not for me as a comic story that essentially undid a key story in the Batman history.
Finally, there’s a short documentary that looks at the recent history of DC Comics, with brief interviews with the likes of Paul Levitz, Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, Brad Meltzer, and others discussing Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis, and a lot about how the stories were crafted and made to build toward one another. The interviewees also discussed what got them into comics, and their influences…and in general, made for a very enjoyable piece.
Of course, it was also interesting to see several of their roles/titles, given changes announced last week for the organization at DC.
I’m a sucker for such documentaries/interview pieces…I enjoyed the Death of Superman retrospective, the Green Lantern/Blackest Night piece on the Green Lantern: First Flight release, and of course this one.
_____________________
My thoughts on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
part 1: What Came Before
part 2: The Movie Itself
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Batman, Batman: Gotham Knight, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Brad Meltzer, Crisis, Dan Didio, DC, DC Universe, Death of Superman, Doomsday, First Flight, Geoff Johns, Gotham Knight, Green Lantern, Green Lantern: First Flight, Jim Corrigan, Judd Winick, Justice League, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: The New Frontier, New Frontier, Paul Levitz, Public Enemies, Spectre, Superman, Superman/Batman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman: Doomsday, Under the Hood, Under the Red Hood, Wonder Woman | Leave a comment »
Now we have the second Justice League movie. Though it is the second under the Justice League header, it’s really no sequel to New Frontier. This one is based on some classic Justice League stories known to me under their contemporary heading of Crisis on Multiple Earths. These comics–as I understand my comics history–were largely regular team-ups between the Justice League and the Justice Society…then situated on different Earths in DC‘s multiverse.
Though the multiverse has long since perished and recently been reborn, those stories still hold quite a bit of weight.
And so we have this movie, in which a Luthor crosses from his Earth to that of “our Earth”–that is, the Earth in which we find the DC super-heroes–and reveals this multiverse. He convinces the Justice League to help him on his world, to “free” it from the evil that terrorizes it. Whereas on our Earth, the most powrful beings are heroes, on Luthor’s Earth, they’re villains.
There’s a LOT to like about this movie. The animation is nice and clean–plenty of detail for what it is, without being overly detailed or trying to be some sort of “animated live-action.” The visual style doesn’t seem to imitate silver age comics that I’m aware of, nor does it exactly imitate contemporary comics. There’s something to it that reminds me very much of the Batman, Superman, and Justice League animated series–probably in part that Bruce Timm is heavily involved in this movie as he was with those series.
I was initially disappointed that we had more new voices for familiar characters…but as the movie kicked into gear, I didn’t really even think about it, other than to note that the characters all sounded perfectly fine and no one seemed out of place…I heard the characters, and not the actors…which for me is an important thing for any animated project.
To me, The Flash had several of the greatest moments–a comment about Luthor’s state when they meet him; a Star Wars reference, and a nice play on things when rushing out of the Crime Syndicate’s place after his teammates. Owlman had a great Harrison Ford moment, which I’m not sure was intentional, though it almost seems it had to have been. And toward the end, Wonder Woman’s “spoils of war” is just about my favorite silver age reference ever–legitimizing a concept I always saw as ludicrous.
The “meat” of the movie was solid stuff, as well. Granted, with a team movie, there’s not a lot of room for character development, especially in the relatively limited timespan for these animated movies. The only thing that really felt forced to me involved a romantic interest for the Martian Manhunter (even if there was a bit of payoff in his final comment on the matter).
This isn’t a character study on any single character…it’s an action/adventure pitting many familiar characters against many similar/opposite characters. There seems to be plenty drawn from the original 1960s comics…and yet, a strong dose of contemporary story-telling.
These DC Universe dvd movies just keep getting better and better, and though I haven’t yet digested this one long enough to decide if it surpasses the previous ones…it certainly keeps up with the best of ’em.
_____________________
My thoughts on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
part 1: What Came Before
part 3: The Extras
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Batman, Batman: Gotham Knight, Crisis, DC, DC Universe, Death of Superman, Doomsday, First Flight, Flash, Gotham Knight, Green Lantern, Green Lantern: First Flight, Justice League, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: The New Frontier, New Frontier, Owlman, Public Enemies, Superman, Superman/Batman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman: Doomsday, Wonder Woman | 3 Comments »
While in many ways, an animated/movie adaptation of ‘The Death of Superman REALLY gets to my core as a comic person–it was largely that story that fully submerged me long-term into the world of comics, and so it has a special place in my memories–that first movie from DC Universe is probably my least-favorite. To this day, several years after-the-fact, I tend to hold that its only redeeming quality is the retrospective documentary on the Death of Superman in the comics. (It doesn’t help that they LATER released a special edition, while subsequent movies have had simultaneous “bare bones” dvd release and a Special Edition release).
Batman: Gotham Knight was an interesting piece, giving a taste of Batman with the anime style…I actually enjoyed it for the most part, and while that is not a style I’d care for long-term for Batman, it definitely worked.
Justice League: A New Frontier became an instant favorite for me. There was something to its story–and perhaps the fact that I had not read the comics first (and yet, had had them repeatedly recommended to me). I read a one-shot DC put out around the time of the movie’s release and enjoyed it, and shortly after bought the TPBs of the comics, and greatly enjoyed those, such that as a whole, the New Frontier is a definite DC classic to me.
A combination of things led to my NOT picking up the Wonder Woman movie, though I Netflixed it, enjoyed it, and numerous times now would have bought it, if any stores would stock the “Special Edition” WITH the stupid cardboard box/slipcase thing. (Petty, sure…but that’s a story for another time).
Green Lantern: First Flight sorta crept up on me, but with Blackest Night then just barely kicked off, I was on a Green Lantern high, and was very excited for the movie. Though it was kinda strange in its depiction of Abin Sur and others, in and of itself I recall really enjoying it–especially the use of Sinestro, AND his Sinestro Corps costume…as well as the way it was left open for “sequels.” That it came with an exclusive Hal Jordan DC Infinite Heroes figure (well, if one bought the boxed version at Best Buy, anyway) was an added bonus. I’ll also always remember buying a new DVD player the same day in order to watch the movie, as the old DVD player my roommate and I had been using refused to recognize the new disc.
A little over two months later we got Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and in anticipation of that one, I re-read the original comics, and thus both enjoyed and yet nitpicked it a bit more than I may have otherwise. I particularly enjoyed the voice casting, getting the “original” actors from the Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series to voice Superman, Batman, and Luthor. That the art was so similar to the original made it even more of a treat.
_____________________
My thoughts on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
part 2: The Movie Itself
part 3: The Extras
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Batman, Batman: Gotham Knight, Crisis, DC, DC Universe, Death of Superman, Doomsday, First Flight, Gotham Knight, Green Lantern, Green Lantern: First Flight, Justice League, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: The New Frontier, New Frontier, Public Enemies, Superman, Superman/Batman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman: Doomsday, Wonder Woman | 2 Comments »
Red Dawn
Story and Words: Peter J. Tomasi
Penciller: Patrick Gleason
Inkers: Rebecca Buchman, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen
Colorist: Randy Mayor
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Gleason, Buchman, Mayor
Editor: Adam Schlagman
Published by: DC Comics
For the most part, this issue is Red Lantern Guy Gardner fighting against his friends, trying to kill them. As a Red Lantern he’s enraged at the Green Lanterns. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) for Guy, the very planet he stands on is a member of the GL Corps, and where the other Green Lanterns fail to stop Guy, Mogo is–at Kyle’s persistence that Guy not be simply killed–is moved to provide a solution for his miniscule-by-comparison comrade.
The story here is fairly simple, but it’s effective. A couple issues back, Guy was possessed by a red ring when his rage flared at what he thought was the death of his best friend. Though Kyle was brought back, Guy remained a Red Lantern and did some nasty stuff to wipe out a bunch of the Black Lanterns threatening Oa. With the immediate threat of the Black Lanterns taken care of by Mogo, the remaining threat became Guy himself, who was in possession of both a red and a green ring. Tomasi uses this issue to give us some serious Guy time, as we see the battle for his heart play out. The writing and art blend particularly with a double-page spread that shows us moments from throughout a lotta years of Guy’s history.
As usual, I’m not a fan of Gleason‘s visual style, but with that spread particularly, scenes are recognizable and that is definitely a good thing. The final page of the issue has a fairly iconic sort of image that works fairly well despite my not liking the style.
This issue feels fairly epic despite its localized setting and there really not being any Black Lanterns. We have the “redemption” of Guy, and a solidification of some important elements to the character. Though this could just as easily have been a send-off, it is more a celebration of the character, firmly establishing him (if there remained any doubt) as one of THE Green Lanterns. Mogo’s solution to deal with the red ring seems to be Tomasi providing a bit of retconning of Guy’s character…but in a way that keeps the past intact while fully freeing the character to move on without being tethered to the past.
Overall, a nice character-driven issue, and well worth getting–particularly for fans of Guy Gardner.
Recommended.
Story: 8/10
Art: 5/10
Overall: 7/10
Filed under: Blackest Night (Event), Comic Reviews 2010, DC, DC Universe, Green Lantern Corps | Tagged: Blackest Night, Comic Reviews, DC, DC Comics, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Guy Gardner, Keith Champagne, Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi, Rebecca Buchman, Red Dawn, Red Lantern, Tom Nguyen | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 