“Lisey’s Story” is a battle. It starts in the early going of the new Apple TV+ limited series — directed by Pablo Larraín and adapted by Stephen King from his own 2006 novel — as it puts viewers through a kind of disorienting endurance test.
Lisey (Julianne Moore), still mourning the death of her late husband and world-renowned author Scott Landon (Clive Owen), is left to piece together the fractured timeline of their romance. From the early days of his fledgling career to their beachside wedding to the day of an unexpected attack, Lisey seems to be captive to those time-hopping thoughts, unsure what to do next.
All the while, the show is meticulously hinting at a tranquil world beyond memory. It’s rendered in stark blues and oranges, complete with marbleized faces and onlookers both rapt and wrapped. What it all means isn’t abundantly clear, but the longer “Lisey’s Story” goes,...
Lisey (Julianne Moore), still mourning the death of her late husband and world-renowned author Scott Landon (Clive Owen), is left to piece together the fractured timeline of their romance. From the early days of his fledgling career to their beachside wedding to the day of an unexpected attack, Lisey seems to be captive to those time-hopping thoughts, unsure what to do next.
All the while, the show is meticulously hinting at a tranquil world beyond memory. It’s rendered in stark blues and oranges, complete with marbleized faces and onlookers both rapt and wrapped. What it all means isn’t abundantly clear, but the longer “Lisey’s Story” goes,...
- 6/4/2021
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
This article contains Superman & Lois episode 8 spoilers.
Superman & Lois has done so many things right in its first season, using familiar comics characters to explore an uncharted onscreen corner of the Superman mythos, focusing on the struggles of small town businesses in an increasingly corporate America, and embracing bold and risky storytelling decisions like introducing hero John Henry Irons to the DC TV universe – just initially disguised as both a villain and a Luthor.
If fans and critics have had one lingering complaint throughout Superman & Lois Season 1, it’s that the show has often left the Lois part of its title to languish in the background of its primary plots a bit more than we might have liked. Sure, it’s been very careful – and rightly so! – to give Lois her own life and story outside of her roles as a wife and mother. But her investigation into obvious...
Superman & Lois has done so many things right in its first season, using familiar comics characters to explore an uncharted onscreen corner of the Superman mythos, focusing on the struggles of small town businesses in an increasingly corporate America, and embracing bold and risky storytelling decisions like introducing hero John Henry Irons to the DC TV universe – just initially disguised as both a villain and a Luthor.
If fans and critics have had one lingering complaint throughout Superman & Lois Season 1, it’s that the show has often left the Lois part of its title to languish in the background of its primary plots a bit more than we might have liked. Sure, it’s been very careful – and rightly so! – to give Lois her own life and story outside of her roles as a wife and mother. But her investigation into obvious...
- 6/2/2021
- by Lacy Baugher
- Den of Geek
Legends of Tomorrow is hands down the weirdest, most bonkers show in The CW’s Arrowverse. It’s also one of the bravest, grounding its zaniest plotlines in rich character work and fearlessly trusting its audience to come along for the ride. Few superhero shows would have ever attempted the full-scale transformation that turned flannel-loving hacker Zari Tomaz into stylish social media maven Zari Tarazi, jettisoning a character that fans had known for years and replacing her with a version that was not just a stranger, but who initially seemed to be the antithesis of everything that had made the previous incarnation so appealing.
Yet, Legends ultimately pulled off the switch in style, using this second iteration to explore central truths about who Zari is through a very different lens. And according to actress Tala Ashe, the heart of Zari’s journey hasn’t actually changed that much just because...
Yet, Legends ultimately pulled off the switch in style, using this second iteration to explore central truths about who Zari is through a very different lens. And according to actress Tala Ashe, the heart of Zari’s journey hasn’t actually changed that much just because...
- 5/17/2021
- by Lacy Baugher
- Den of Geek
For the first in a long time, there was no John Cena at Wrestlemania. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and his busy schedule filming the Peacemaker series for HBO Max, Cena was unable to partake in the WWE’s Showcase of the Immortals, sitting out Wrestlemania 37. Cena has appeared in 15 Wrestlemania matches, headlining the show five times and squaring off against legendary superstars like Shawn Michales, Triple H, Batista, The Undertaker, and The Rock. However, Cena’s last appearance on the Grandest Stage of Them All may have just been his very best.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused 2020’s Wrestlemania 36 to be unlike any Show of Shows that preceded it. For the first time ever, fans were not in attendance, the event was split across two nights, and cinematic matches, like The Undertaker’s farewell match against A.J. Styles, presented the WWE in a different light, stealing the show. The other cinematic...
The Covid-19 pandemic caused 2020’s Wrestlemania 36 to be unlike any Show of Shows that preceded it. For the first time ever, fans were not in attendance, the event was split across two nights, and cinematic matches, like The Undertaker’s farewell match against A.J. Styles, presented the WWE in a different light, stealing the show. The other cinematic...
- 5/14/2021
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
This Black Widow article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t do standalone movies—not really. Even the most isolated of MCU narratives have connections to the rest of the fictional universe, and work to set up upcoming stories. Normally, this process may be surprising in precisely how it is executed, but straight-forward in that it is setting up the next story or stories in the MCU. The Black Widow movie, slated for a July release, challenges that obvious structure. It is a prequel centering a hero who is canonically dead in the MCU, which means its strategy in connecting to the current, forward-looking phase of the MCU and setting up a future story is a bit more mysterious. How will the Black Widow prequel, which is set after the events of Captain America: Civil War but before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, set up the MCU’s future?...
The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t do standalone movies—not really. Even the most isolated of MCU narratives have connections to the rest of the fictional universe, and work to set up upcoming stories. Normally, this process may be surprising in precisely how it is executed, but straight-forward in that it is setting up the next story or stories in the MCU. The Black Widow movie, slated for a July release, challenges that obvious structure. It is a prequel centering a hero who is canonically dead in the MCU, which means its strategy in connecting to the current, forward-looking phase of the MCU and setting up a future story is a bit more mysterious. How will the Black Widow prequel, which is set after the events of Captain America: Civil War but before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, set up the MCU’s future?...
- 5/3/2021
- by Kayti Burt
- Den of Geek
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is reclaiming its roots, as evident in the debut trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which showcases a defining return by the shadowy syndicate that tangled with Tony Stark way back in 2008’s original Iron Man. Yet, while Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) is on a collision course with the long-awaited “real” Mandarin (Tony Leung), he will clearly have his hands full fighting a masked villain named Death Dealer, whose hitherto obscurity in the pages of Marvel Comics seems to belie the character’s importance in the film.
Death Dealer, as depicted in the upcoming Shang-Chi movie, appears to be an integral member of the Ten Rings organization led by the Mandarin, who is also known here as Wenwu, which makes him a hybrid of comic character Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father, mentor and eventual adversary. Yet, it’s clear that Death Dealer also...
Death Dealer, as depicted in the upcoming Shang-Chi movie, appears to be an integral member of the Ten Rings organization led by the Mandarin, who is also known here as Wenwu, which makes him a hybrid of comic character Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father, mentor and eventual adversary. Yet, it’s clear that Death Dealer also...
- 4/19/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
This article contains The Falcon And The Winter Soldier spoilers.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has its fair share of issues: The bizarrely uneven pacing, the mixed messages about capitalism and propaganda, the fact that Flag Smashers is literally the stupidest name for a villain supergroup in history even if they do exist in the comics. But like WandaVision before it, the series truly excels at giving multiple sidelined Marvel Cinematic Universe characters a chance to finally step forward into their own stories.
In just three episodes of this Disney+ series, we’ve already seen more acknowledgment of Sam’s struggle as a Black superhero than we have in any other MCU property. We’ve watched Bucky Barnes – arguably the franchise’s most tortured, damaged soul – seek help for his mental health struggles, try to facilitate restoration for his former victims, and bring justice to those he worked for as the villainous Winter Soldier.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has its fair share of issues: The bizarrely uneven pacing, the mixed messages about capitalism and propaganda, the fact that Flag Smashers is literally the stupidest name for a villain supergroup in history even if they do exist in the comics. But like WandaVision before it, the series truly excels at giving multiple sidelined Marvel Cinematic Universe characters a chance to finally step forward into their own stories.
In just three episodes of this Disney+ series, we’ve already seen more acknowledgment of Sam’s struggle as a Black superhero than we have in any other MCU property. We’ve watched Bucky Barnes – arguably the franchise’s most tortured, damaged soul – seek help for his mental health struggles, try to facilitate restoration for his former victims, and bring justice to those he worked for as the villainous Winter Soldier.
- 4/3/2021
- by Lacy Baugher
- Den of Geek
This article contains spoilers for WandaVision episode 8.
Like episode 4 before it, WandaVision episode 8 drops the show’s sitcom homage format entirely to delve deeper into the context of the world outside the hexagon and Wanda’s own history. That doesn’t mean, however, that “Previously On…” still doesn’t find the time to shout out some classic television.
In fact, this penultimate installment may feature WandaVision’s most important sitcom reference yet by taking things back to the very first episode with the help of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Allow us to explain…
The Dick Van Dyke Show
As Agatha takes Wanda on a Christmas Carol-style trip through her past, the first stop is naturally in Sokovia, where they witness the day that Wanda and Pietro’s parents died. Before the violence in the streets escalates and a Stark bomb destroys their home, however, we see how Wanda...
Like episode 4 before it, WandaVision episode 8 drops the show’s sitcom homage format entirely to delve deeper into the context of the world outside the hexagon and Wanda’s own history. That doesn’t mean, however, that “Previously On…” still doesn’t find the time to shout out some classic television.
In fact, this penultimate installment may feature WandaVision’s most important sitcom reference yet by taking things back to the very first episode with the help of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Allow us to explain…
The Dick Van Dyke Show
As Agatha takes Wanda on a Christmas Carol-style trip through her past, the first stop is naturally in Sokovia, where they witness the day that Wanda and Pietro’s parents died. Before the violence in the streets escalates and a Stark bomb destroys their home, however, we see how Wanda...
- 2/26/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Decades ago, in Uncanny X-Men #168, Kitty Pryde dared to say something bold yet true, “Charles Xavier is a jerk!” She was right, and the world has been better for it.
Professor Charles Xavier’s jerkdom transcends all media he has made an appearance in; it’s that powerful. He is an omega level clown, which is probably why he treats his X-Men like circus acts. You have to wow those humans in hopes of getting them to treat you like your mutant life matters, at least according to Xavier’s teachings. Now that X-Men: The Animated Series is available to stream on Disney+, here is a list of episodes filled with all of the Professor’s best-worst moments and how he is more of a danger to the X-Men than anyone else.
Enter Magneto and Deadly Reunions
The first season of X-Men is overflowing with moments that make you want...
Professor Charles Xavier’s jerkdom transcends all media he has made an appearance in; it’s that powerful. He is an omega level clown, which is probably why he treats his X-Men like circus acts. You have to wow those humans in hopes of getting them to treat you like your mutant life matters, at least according to Xavier’s teachings. Now that X-Men: The Animated Series is available to stream on Disney+, here is a list of episodes filled with all of the Professor’s best-worst moments and how he is more of a danger to the X-Men than anyone else.
Enter Magneto and Deadly Reunions
The first season of X-Men is overflowing with moments that make you want...
- 2/13/2021
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been weaving a web of sequels and spinoff projects to increasingly intricate effect. Compounding that, the apparent plot connectivity of the untitled Spider-Man 3 and Marvel Studios’ subsequent sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, seems destined to shift the shared continuity on a dimensional level. Thus, questions have been raised by Sony’s latest shift for the Jared Leto-starring spinoff, Morbius, which is now on schedule for January 2022. This places the vampire film one month after the Spider-Man threequel’s December 2021 release.
The Morbius migration—the second such shift in just under a fortnight and its fourth delay overall—was a necessary retreat in the aftermath of yet another move by a bigger franchise fish in MGM’s James Bond sequel, No Time to Die, which abandoned its Easter weekend theatrical release plans for the more Covid vaccine-permeated date of Oct.
The Morbius migration—the second such shift in just under a fortnight and its fourth delay overall—was a necessary retreat in the aftermath of yet another move by a bigger franchise fish in MGM’s James Bond sequel, No Time to Die, which abandoned its Easter weekend theatrical release plans for the more Covid vaccine-permeated date of Oct.
- 1/23/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
This article contains WandaVision episode 3 spoilers.
WandaVision Episode 3
As we saw at the end of last week’s two-episode premiere of WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) had decided to avoid some troubling cracks in her black-and-white sitcom world (like that eerie beekeeper) by sprucing the place up with some color. In episode 3, WandaVision fully embraces the 1970s TV comedy esthetic, complete with crazy hairdos and outfits, brightly lit sets and even a new theme song and credits sequence that all look like they arrived fresh from a Brady Bunch audition.
And let’s also not forget that Wanda is now pregnant, and as episode 3 progresses, so does her pregnancy at alarming speed. As the show opens, Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) are finishing up a home visit from the rather obnoxious Dr. Stan Nielsen (Randy Oglesby), who explains that everything seems fine despite Wanda rather abruptly looking like she’s four months pregnant.
WandaVision Episode 3
As we saw at the end of last week’s two-episode premiere of WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) had decided to avoid some troubling cracks in her black-and-white sitcom world (like that eerie beekeeper) by sprucing the place up with some color. In episode 3, WandaVision fully embraces the 1970s TV comedy esthetic, complete with crazy hairdos and outfits, brightly lit sets and even a new theme song and credits sequence that all look like they arrived fresh from a Brady Bunch audition.
And let’s also not forget that Wanda is now pregnant, and as episode 3 progresses, so does her pregnancy at alarming speed. As the show opens, Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) are finishing up a home visit from the rather obnoxious Dr. Stan Nielsen (Randy Oglesby), who explains that everything seems fine despite Wanda rather abruptly looking like she’s four months pregnant.
- 1/22/2021
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
This article contains WandaVision episode 1 spoilers, and potential spoilers for the rest of the series.
With superhero movies – Marvel movies especially – what we know from the comics adds a bit to the experience. It lets us know what to look for and what to expect. Sometimes, the movie uses that against us. Sometimes you get something like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where comic fans knew the Bucky twist the second the movie was announced.
Other times you get something like Logan, where the source material had you prepared for Wolverine being responsible for the X-Men being dead when the film throws a curveball and reveals it to be Xavier’s doing. Marvel’s swerved fans with the Mandarin and the Skrulls and it got to the point where people were second-guessing if trickster villain Mysterio really was a trickster villain.
So far WandaVision is a suspenseful mystery wrapped up...
With superhero movies – Marvel movies especially – what we know from the comics adds a bit to the experience. It lets us know what to look for and what to expect. Sometimes, the movie uses that against us. Sometimes you get something like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where comic fans knew the Bucky twist the second the movie was announced.
Other times you get something like Logan, where the source material had you prepared for Wolverine being responsible for the X-Men being dead when the film throws a curveball and reveals it to be Xavier’s doing. Marvel’s swerved fans with the Mandarin and the Skrulls and it got to the point where people were second-guessing if trickster villain Mysterio really was a trickster villain.
So far WandaVision is a suspenseful mystery wrapped up...
- 1/16/2021
- by Gavin Jasper
- Den of Geek
This article contains major Wonder Woman 1984 spoilers for the ending of the film. We have a spoiler free review here.
Wonder Woman 1984 fits a lot of story into its 2.5 hour runtime, especially in its action-packed third act as Diana faces off against not one, but two villains: Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. While audiences have been encouraged to think of the DC blockbuster as a relative standalone, there’s much about the sequel that harkens back to the first film and there’s much about the movie that hints at what’s to come for our eponymous hero.
If you have some burning questions coming out of Wonder Woman 1984, you’re not alone. What happens at the end of the superhero sequel? What might it mean for the future of the franchise? And which characters might be back for future installments?
We have those answers and more ahead…
Will Steve Trevor Be Back?...
Wonder Woman 1984 fits a lot of story into its 2.5 hour runtime, especially in its action-packed third act as Diana faces off against not one, but two villains: Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. While audiences have been encouraged to think of the DC blockbuster as a relative standalone, there’s much about the sequel that harkens back to the first film and there’s much about the movie that hints at what’s to come for our eponymous hero.
If you have some burning questions coming out of Wonder Woman 1984, you’re not alone. What happens at the end of the superhero sequel? What might it mean for the future of the franchise? And which characters might be back for future installments?
We have those answers and more ahead…
Will Steve Trevor Be Back?...
- 12/25/2020
- by Kayti Burt
- Den of Geek
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige made it official at Thursday’s (December 10) four-hour Disney investors call and presentation: the Fantastic Four, Marvel’s First Family, are being rebooted as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jon Watts, director of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far from Home, will helm the Four’s new movie, which Feige says is “being developed.”
Feige didn’t say anything else about the Fantastic Four reboot, but as usual at these kinds of events, it was also about what he didn’t say: that the Four will take precedence over the X-Men in terms of joining the McU.
To be clear, the X-Men will become part of the McU at some point. Feige hinted as much at Comic-Con 2019 when he randomly blurted out the word “mutants” toward the end of Marvel’s big Hall H presentation. But the X-Men were not mentioned at today’s rapid-fire,...
Feige didn’t say anything else about the Fantastic Four reboot, but as usual at these kinds of events, it was also about what he didn’t say: that the Four will take precedence over the X-Men in terms of joining the McU.
To be clear, the X-Men will become part of the McU at some point. Feige hinted as much at Comic-Con 2019 when he randomly blurted out the word “mutants” toward the end of Marvel’s big Hall H presentation. But the X-Men were not mentioned at today’s rapid-fire,...
- 12/11/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Talk about the Lost Arts — Animation of various kinds, even stop-motion, is now a major part of filmmaking entertainment. But back in the 1940s the wonder man for ‘how’d they do that’ Technicolor marvels was George Pal, a grateful displaced European who made marvelous ‘trickfilm’ animations using little wooden puppets with hundreds of interchangeable pieces. Arnold Leibovit follows up his first Puppetoon disc with a bounteous, bigger collection of animated gems in Blu-ray HD. They’re fascinating to study in slow motion — the volume of craft, patience and artisan labor that goes into these shows is staggering.
The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2
Blu-ray + DVD
Arnold Leibovit Entertainment
1934 – 1946 / Color + B&w / 1:37 Academy / 186 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / Available from Puppetoon Dot Net / 39.95
Starring: Jim Dandy, Punchy & Judy, Jasper, Professor Scarecrow, Rusty, Bugs Bunny, Wilbur the Lion.
Disc produced by Arnold Leibovit
Produced and Directed by George Pal
Arnold Leibovit follows up his extraordinary,...
The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2
Blu-ray + DVD
Arnold Leibovit Entertainment
1934 – 1946 / Color + B&w / 1:37 Academy / 186 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / Available from Puppetoon Dot Net / 39.95
Starring: Jim Dandy, Punchy & Judy, Jasper, Professor Scarecrow, Rusty, Bugs Bunny, Wilbur the Lion.
Disc produced by Arnold Leibovit
Produced and Directed by George Pal
Arnold Leibovit follows up his extraordinary,...
- 12/5/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With the news that John Cena is playing Peacemaker in the upcoming James Gunn sequel, The Suicide Squad, it’s worth examining who the character is and how he got to the movie. The easy answer is he jumped backwards out of a balloon to assassinate the president, and in case you can’t tell, I’m really excited to talk about Multiversity again.
Who Is Peacemaker?
He’s The Comedian.
Seriously, Peacemaker was the character Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons based The Comedian on in Watchmen. He was one of the Charlton characters purchased by DC in the ‘80s, introduced to the DC Universe post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was originally created in the mid ‘60s in a backup strip with Fightin 5, and never really made that much of an impression. But even though he wouldn’t have the impact that his Watchmen analogue would, he sill managed to...
Who Is Peacemaker?
He’s The Comedian.
Seriously, Peacemaker was the character Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons based The Comedian on in Watchmen. He was one of the Charlton characters purchased by DC in the ‘80s, introduced to the DC Universe post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was originally created in the mid ‘60s in a backup strip with Fightin 5, and never really made that much of an impression. But even though he wouldn’t have the impact that his Watchmen analogue would, he sill managed to...
- 8/22/2020
- by Jim Dandy
- Den of Geek
At DC Fandome’s panel for The Suicide Squad, Warner Brothers and the crew of the movie finally revealed all of the returning characters for the upcoming movie, and I still can’t believe we’re finally getting big screen Arm Fall Off Boy. Also Harley Quinn is back.
Returning from the first movie are several characters: Harley Quinn, played almost perfectly (twice!) by Margot Robbie; Boomerang gets to be a Captain in this movie, played by Jai Courtney; Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller; and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flagg. But it’s the new cast members who are big surprises.
Check out this stylish video revealing who everybody’s playing. It’s pretty great. Then we’ll help explain who is who.
John Cena joins the movie as Peacemaker. We’ll have more on him soon, but he’s a Captain America-type heavily involved in the super spy agencies of the DC universe.
Returning from the first movie are several characters: Harley Quinn, played almost perfectly (twice!) by Margot Robbie; Boomerang gets to be a Captain in this movie, played by Jai Courtney; Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller; and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flagg. But it’s the new cast members who are big surprises.
Check out this stylish video revealing who everybody’s playing. It’s pretty great. Then we’ll help explain who is who.
John Cena joins the movie as Peacemaker. We’ll have more on him soon, but he’s a Captain America-type heavily involved in the super spy agencies of the DC universe.
- 8/22/2020
- by Jim Dandy
- Den of Geek
Bryan Singer may already be widely associated with controversy regarding his on-set behavior and extracurricular “activities,” but a lengthy exposé published today by THR has shed more unseemly light on the array of accusations about him and the culture of abuse and negligence that the director purportedly perpetuated. One such detail centers on a breaking point reached by the X-Men cast.
According to the report, the cast of 2003’s X2: X-Men United had a consequential confrontation with Singer centered on his erratic, frequently-absent and narcotics-addled tenure over the sequel’s Vancouver production, which apparently resulted in the franchise’s breakout star, Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman, being injured in a stunt that should not have been shot that day. It seems as if the groundbreaking, $269 million global success of 2000’s original X-Men magnified Singer’s proclivities, which resulted in an unfortunate osmosis to members of the crew during the X2 shoot,...
According to the report, the cast of 2003’s X2: X-Men United had a consequential confrontation with Singer centered on his erratic, frequently-absent and narcotics-addled tenure over the sequel’s Vancouver production, which apparently resulted in the franchise’s breakout star, Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman, being injured in a stunt that should not have been shot that day. It seems as if the groundbreaking, $269 million global success of 2000’s original X-Men magnified Singer’s proclivities, which resulted in an unfortunate osmosis to members of the crew during the X2 shoot,...
- 7/31/2020
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
This Doom Patrol review contains spoilers.
Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 1
The first season of Doom Patrol was the kind of outing that shouldn’t have worked. The band of misfit heroes (who could swear) felt like a premise that would wear thin – as did the novelty of Alan Tudyk as a narrating super villain, and a talking cockroach with apocalypse on his mind. Yet, the show successfully managed a balance of oddball concepts, violence, humor and strong development of characters struggling with serious trauma. Now, with the second season premiere, “Fun-Size Patrol,” the show returns with solid footing that manages to be heartbreaking, and hilarious. And yes, there is still a lot of swearing.
Picking up a short time after the events of the first season finale – where Tudyk’s villain Mr. Nobody was thwarted, a giant cockroach and rat made out, and The Chief (Timothy Dalton) was revealed to...
Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 1
The first season of Doom Patrol was the kind of outing that shouldn’t have worked. The band of misfit heroes (who could swear) felt like a premise that would wear thin – as did the novelty of Alan Tudyk as a narrating super villain, and a talking cockroach with apocalypse on his mind. Yet, the show successfully managed a balance of oddball concepts, violence, humor and strong development of characters struggling with serious trauma. Now, with the second season premiere, “Fun-Size Patrol,” the show returns with solid footing that manages to be heartbreaking, and hilarious. And yes, there is still a lot of swearing.
Picking up a short time after the events of the first season finale – where Tudyk’s villain Mr. Nobody was thwarted, a giant cockroach and rat made out, and The Chief (Timothy Dalton) was revealed to...
- 6/25/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Sometimes it’s crazy to look at what a mythic character Tony Stark has become. For decades, he was the Avengers member who was well-known enough, but couldn’t make it big in the mainstream. He had a cartoon with a cheesy theme in the ‘60s, a cartoon with a badass theme in the ‘90s, a quick reference on Seinfeld, and a few appearances in some awful straight-to-dvd animated movies that nobody ever talks about.
Then 2008 and Robert Downey Jr. happened and with it came Disney’s ability to print money like nothing else with dozens of successful movies. Even with Iron Man written out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point, he’s still considered the heart of what made it work.
Meanwhile, in the comics, Iron Man has hit some major highs. Not only a founding Avenger, founding member of Marvel’s Illuminati, and once Director of Shield,...
Then 2008 and Robert Downey Jr. happened and with it came Disney’s ability to print money like nothing else with dozens of successful movies. Even with Iron Man written out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point, he’s still considered the heart of what made it work.
Meanwhile, in the comics, Iron Man has hit some major highs. Not only a founding Avenger, founding member of Marvel’s Illuminati, and once Director of Shield,...
- 6/15/2020
- by Gavin Jasper
- Den of Geek
This Legends of Tomorrow episode review contains spoilers.
Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5 Episode 13
There’s one, maybe two perfect episodes of Legends of Tomorrow a season, and “I Am Legends” is one of them. As the episode started to roll towards its climax, I became more and more surprised at what I was seeing, until just before the big final fight when I realized what they were about to pull off.
Legends of Tomorrow did the impossible: they made a zombie episode in a serialized superhero show that had meaningful stakes and an earned emotional payoff. And to be quite honest, the how of it is even more impressive. They did it by staring down the structural problem that makes those stakes so hard to impart on a story like this and instead, flipping it around.
Last week’s episode ended with Lachesis confronting Astra and bringing her back...
Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5 Episode 13
There’s one, maybe two perfect episodes of Legends of Tomorrow a season, and “I Am Legends” is one of them. As the episode started to roll towards its climax, I became more and more surprised at what I was seeing, until just before the big final fight when I realized what they were about to pull off.
Legends of Tomorrow did the impossible: they made a zombie episode in a serialized superhero show that had meaningful stakes and an earned emotional payoff. And to be quite honest, the how of it is even more impressive. They did it by staring down the structural problem that makes those stakes so hard to impart on a story like this and instead, flipping it around.
Last week’s episode ended with Lachesis confronting Astra and bringing her back...
- 5/20/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
One of the basic questions that comes with a fictional world is, “If this exists, then what else?” We accept the Green Goblin because we accept Spider-Man. The Joker is an extension of Batman. If there’s a Green Lantern Corps, then surely there are other colors. Dr. Manhattan may be the only super-being of his world, but the science behind him can be used and abused.
Now Mark Waid and Neal Adams are asking the same kind of question about Galactus. If Galactus exists, then so should the Antithesis. While details are scarce, there appears to be some kind of anti-Galactus and we’ll be seeing his story begin in Fantastic Four: Antithesis #1, coming out in August.
Mark Waid has written a ton of comics over the years and his take on Fantastic Four with the late-great Mike Wieringo is considered defining for Marvel Comics’ First Family. What’s...
Now Mark Waid and Neal Adams are asking the same kind of question about Galactus. If Galactus exists, then so should the Antithesis. While details are scarce, there appears to be some kind of anti-Galactus and we’ll be seeing his story begin in Fantastic Four: Antithesis #1, coming out in August.
Mark Waid has written a ton of comics over the years and his take on Fantastic Four with the late-great Mike Wieringo is considered defining for Marvel Comics’ First Family. What’s...
- 5/16/2020
- by Gavin Jasper
- Den of Geek
In 2015, 20th Century Fox released Fantastic Four, allegedly both a reboot and a brand new take on the popular Marvel Comics superhero team that, back in 1961, launched the modern Marvel Universe as we know it and changed the course of pop culture history.
Despite the Four’s importance and success on the page, the property had yet to land a definitive screen incarnation despite several attempts. The 2015 film was not necessarily meant to be that version: instead, it was conceived and positioned as a dark, almost horror-like approach to the material — not unprecedented but also not quite the tone most fans envisioned when they thought of the comic-book Four and their colorful, often cosmic and wildly fun adventures.
Fantastic Four was directed by Josh Trank, at the time a 31-year-old filmmaker who had scored an instant hit three years earlier with Chronicle, a found-footage tale of three teen friends who...
Despite the Four’s importance and success on the page, the property had yet to land a definitive screen incarnation despite several attempts. The 2015 film was not necessarily meant to be that version: instead, it was conceived and positioned as a dark, almost horror-like approach to the material — not unprecedented but also not quite the tone most fans envisioned when they thought of the comic-book Four and their colorful, often cosmic and wildly fun adventures.
Fantastic Four was directed by Josh Trank, at the time a 31-year-old filmmaker who had scored an instant hit three years earlier with Chronicle, a found-footage tale of three teen friends who...
- 5/13/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
This The Flash review contains spoilers.
The Flash Season 6 Episode 19
For an episode that wasn’t supposed to be The Flash season 6 finale, I’ve gotta say, “Success is Assured” absolutely managed to look and feel big enough (and surprisingly mostly satisfying enough) to work as one. I never would have seen this coming. But maybe I should have.
After all, this season has spent almost all its time breaking rules. From the very start, new showrunner Eric Wallace planned to break with several conventions, not just of The Flash, but the entire Arrowverse. Notably (and most importantly) not trying to stretch a single villain out over a 22 (well…in this case 19) episode season. Hence this year’s two “graphic novels” (as he called them), with Bloodwork as the villain of the first half before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then Eva McCulloch coming in as Mirror Master for the 2021 episodes.
The Flash Season 6 Episode 19
For an episode that wasn’t supposed to be The Flash season 6 finale, I’ve gotta say, “Success is Assured” absolutely managed to look and feel big enough (and surprisingly mostly satisfying enough) to work as one. I never would have seen this coming. But maybe I should have.
After all, this season has spent almost all its time breaking rules. From the very start, new showrunner Eric Wallace planned to break with several conventions, not just of The Flash, but the entire Arrowverse. Notably (and most importantly) not trying to stretch a single villain out over a 22 (well…in this case 19) episode season. Hence this year’s two “graphic novels” (as he called them), with Bloodwork as the villain of the first half before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then Eva McCulloch coming in as Mirror Master for the 2021 episodes.
- 5/13/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
This Legends of Tomorrow review contains spoilers.
Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 12
“Freaks and Greeks” is the first episode since Legends of Tomorrow returned from a pandemic-prolonged hiatus where the real world started to creep into my personal enjoyment of the show.
I don’t think this is a unique problem to me, nor is it something that only happens to Legends of Tomorrow. It’s been two months since I high fived anyone other than my toddler or since I stood within ten feet of another person without getting mad about it. But for the most part, I haven’t been all that freaked out about it happening in my fiction. Until I saw the Legends and an entire campus of college kids drinking out of the same cup. That’S How You Get Pregnant, Guys. I mean the ‘rona. That’s how you get the ‘rona.
The Legends...
Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 12
“Freaks and Greeks” is the first episode since Legends of Tomorrow returned from a pandemic-prolonged hiatus where the real world started to creep into my personal enjoyment of the show.
I don’t think this is a unique problem to me, nor is it something that only happens to Legends of Tomorrow. It’s been two months since I high fived anyone other than my toddler or since I stood within ten feet of another person without getting mad about it. But for the most part, I haven’t been all that freaked out about it happening in my fiction. Until I saw the Legends and an entire campus of college kids drinking out of the same cup. That’S How You Get Pregnant, Guys. I mean the ‘rona. That’s how you get the ‘rona.
The Legends...
- 5/13/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
This article contains Batwoman spoilers.
Batwoman episode 19, A Secret Kept From All the Rest,” represents a landmark moment for the series, as it’s the first time the show has introduced a villain from her cousin Batman’s rogues’ gallery for Kate to face. In this installment, Gabriel Mann makes his official debut as Hush, the supervillain alter ego of real estate mogul and Bruce Wayne obsessive Tommy Elliot, complete with dramatic bandages and a truly stylish trench coat. As Tommy, he has a preexisting – and largely antagonistic – relationship with Kate, but as Hush, he’s built a new, more dangerous one with Alice, as the two join forces to try and crack the code of Lucius Fox’s journal.
Den of Geek spoke to Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries about bringing Hush to Gotham, how a new villain can co-exist in a landscape that also includes Alice, and a sneak...
Batwoman episode 19, A Secret Kept From All the Rest,” represents a landmark moment for the series, as it’s the first time the show has introduced a villain from her cousin Batman’s rogues’ gallery for Kate to face. In this installment, Gabriel Mann makes his official debut as Hush, the supervillain alter ego of real estate mogul and Bruce Wayne obsessive Tommy Elliot, complete with dramatic bandages and a truly stylish trench coat. As Tommy, he has a preexisting – and largely antagonistic – relationship with Kate, but as Hush, he’s built a new, more dangerous one with Alice, as the two join forces to try and crack the code of Lucius Fox’s journal.
Den of Geek spoke to Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries about bringing Hush to Gotham, how a new villain can co-exist in a landscape that also includes Alice, and a sneak...
- 5/11/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
The CW’s Batwoman is, on paper, the origin story of Kate Kane. But in many ways, it’s also the story of Sophie Moore, Kate’s ex-girlfriend from military school who finds her life turned upside down when the Kane heir returns to town and takes over her cousin Bruce’s bat-themed crime fighting legacy.
In the series’ first episode, Sophie seems more a human motivational aide than a person, largely existing to get kidnapped and help Kate discover the hero within (while she reminisces over their many make-out sessions back during their shared Point Rock Academy days). As a viewer, you’d be forgiven for assuming this was a character who wasn’t going to amount to much.
Isn’t it nice to be wrong?
As Batwoman’s subsequent sixteen episodes have unspooled on Sunday nights, Sophie has been on her own hero’s journey – though, granted one...
In the series’ first episode, Sophie seems more a human motivational aide than a person, largely existing to get kidnapped and help Kate discover the hero within (while she reminisces over their many make-out sessions back during their shared Point Rock Academy days). As a viewer, you’d be forgiven for assuming this was a character who wasn’t going to amount to much.
Isn’t it nice to be wrong?
As Batwoman’s subsequent sixteen episodes have unspooled on Sunday nights, Sophie has been on her own hero’s journey – though, granted one...
- 4/28/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
This Batwoman review contains spoilers.
Batwoman Episode 17
Tonight’s episode of Batwoman feels like something of an homage to the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, at least when it comes to villains. Directed by CW veteran Paul Wesley of The Vampire Diaries fame, Detonator’s little morality plays smack of Bane’s bastardized 99%-er agenda, and the flair for dramatic twists certainly feels like something out of the Heath Ledger Joker playbook. Detonator is a great villain, made even better by his tie to Luke Fox.
It must be said that this episode belongs to Luke Fox and Camrus Johnson, who gives us a performance it feels like he’s been waiting to unleash all season. Johnson is able to show both all the pain Luke’s been tamping down for years and the logical, robotic remove that would allow him to follow through with it at the same time, making...
Batwoman Episode 17
Tonight’s episode of Batwoman feels like something of an homage to the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, at least when it comes to villains. Directed by CW veteran Paul Wesley of The Vampire Diaries fame, Detonator’s little morality plays smack of Bane’s bastardized 99%-er agenda, and the flair for dramatic twists certainly feels like something out of the Heath Ledger Joker playbook. Detonator is a great villain, made even better by his tie to Luke Fox.
It must be said that this episode belongs to Luke Fox and Camrus Johnson, who gives us a performance it feels like he’s been waiting to unleash all season. Johnson is able to show both all the pain Luke’s been tamping down for years and the logical, robotic remove that would allow him to follow through with it at the same time, making...
- 4/27/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
As stay-at-home orders started to crash over the world at the end of March, Diamond Comics Distributors announced that it would be suspending shipping of new books. Diamond has been functioning essentially as a monopoly for years, so this move meant, for all intents and purposes, the end of new comics releases, and it’s been that way for a month. But now, DC Comics announced that new comics will be hitting shops on April 28th, and the way they’re doing it could be a long-term shift in how we get the comic books we love.
The new releases are a scaled back list of new titles, not the full list of books one would expect to come from DC on a regular basis. Shipping on the 28th are Laura Marks & Kelley Jones’ Hill House book, Daphne Byrne #4; the final issue of Si Spurrier and Bilquis Evely’s run...
The new releases are a scaled back list of new titles, not the full list of books one would expect to come from DC on a regular basis. Shipping on the 28th are Laura Marks & Kelley Jones’ Hill House book, Daphne Byrne #4; the final issue of Si Spurrier and Bilquis Evely’s run...
- 4/21/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Boom! Studios, comics publisher behind some of the most acclaimed titles of the last 15 years, announced on Monday that they had agreed to a first look deal with Netflix for the next two years. “We generate 20+ new original series a year and are thrilled to partner with a streamer that is as prolific as we are,” said Boom!’s CEO and founder, Ross Richie. “Boom!’s unique partnership model benefits creators by positioning them to be packaged with high-end directors, screenwriters, and producers. We’re thrilled to continue our track record of translating our best-selling award-winning library with the best TV talent in the business but now with the undisputed leader of the new streaming era.”
The deal gives Netflix first crack at developing live action or animated series based on Boom! Comics like The Spire, Lumberjanes, or Giant Days. “Boom! characters are innately special, they’re colorful, diverse and...
The deal gives Netflix first crack at developing live action or animated series based on Boom! Comics like The Spire, Lumberjanes, or Giant Days. “Boom! characters are innately special, they’re colorful, diverse and...
- 4/14/2020
- by Chris Longo
- Den of Geek
There are few comic creators alive today who have had a greater influence on Batman and Gotham City than Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Ty Templeton. Dini and Burnett brought Batman: The Animated Series into our homes – Dini co-creating the series, Burnett as one of its earliest writers and producers – launching the original DC Animated Universe, and Templeton wrote and drew much of the in-continuity tie in comic, regarded by many as one of the best Batman comics of all time. When it was announced that the three would return to that universe for a new digital-first comic from DC, Batman: The Adventures Continue, the first question that leaps to mind is how things might have changed in this version of Gotham City.
“I’ve actually consciously made Tim [Drake] a little taller and a little thinner in the face just so he looks like he’s maybe a year older.
“I’ve actually consciously made Tim [Drake] a little taller and a little thinner in the face just so he looks like he’s maybe a year older.
- 4/1/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
One of the big constants in Marvel has always been the endless rivalry between the Skrulls and the Kree. Back in the ‘70s, we got the classic Avengers story, The Kree-Skrull War out of the two alien forces going to war with each other with Earth’s fate in the balance. The What If spinoff (“What If the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones?”) is presumably the first massive superhero team-up storyline in Marvel history. The aftermath of the Kree-Skrull War caused the creation of Marvel’s Illuminati. They even retconned it so that Venom’s origins were spawned from the war (its first host was a Kree warrior trying to weaponize shape-shifting against a race of shape-shifters).
Plus, hey, we got a pretty successful Captain Marvel movie based on the feud.
A major wrinkle in the rivalry appeared in the mid-00s when we got to meet Hulkling from the Young Avengers.
Plus, hey, we got a pretty successful Captain Marvel movie based on the feud.
A major wrinkle in the rivalry appeared in the mid-00s when we got to meet Hulkling from the Young Avengers.
- 3/28/2020
- by Gavin Jasper
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 27, 2020
DC's Strange Adventures will change how you see Adam Strange forever, courtesy of Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Evan "Doc" Shaner.
Adam Strange is the quintessential 1950s pulp science hero. On Earth, he was an archaeologist with a boring life (at least relative to the Nazi hunting peaks that we know archaeology professors can hit thanks to the Indiana Jones franchise). He was hit by a mysterious beam of light while on a dig in Peru, and zapped to a faraway planet where he was immediately attacked by the fauna. After solving that problem, he met Sardath, lead scientist of Rann, the planet Strange found himself on. From there, he fell in love with Sardath’s daughter, Alanna, and adventured around the planet with his girlfriend, his jetpack, and his ray gun. But when the effects of the zeta beam that brought him to Rann wore off,...
DC's Strange Adventures will change how you see Adam Strange forever, courtesy of Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Evan "Doc" Shaner.
Adam Strange is the quintessential 1950s pulp science hero. On Earth, he was an archaeologist with a boring life (at least relative to the Nazi hunting peaks that we know archaeology professors can hit thanks to the Indiana Jones franchise). He was hit by a mysterious beam of light while on a dig in Peru, and zapped to a faraway planet where he was immediately attacked by the fauna. After solving that problem, he met Sardath, lead scientist of Rann, the planet Strange found himself on. From there, he fell in love with Sardath’s daughter, Alanna, and adventured around the planet with his girlfriend, his jetpack, and his ray gun. But when the effects of the zeta beam that brought him to Rann wore off,...
- 2/27/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 20, 2020
Far Sector puts a new Green Lantern on a new beat and it's one of the most exciting things DC has done in ages.
It's awe inspiring to me that I can know from the moment a comic is announced that it is extremely For Me, and yet still be surprised at how good every issue is. It's even more impressive that I'm getting it from two creators who are relatively new to the medium. But that's the beauty of Far Sector: even when it's been great, it gets better.
I think my first exposure to N.K. Jemisin's writing was prose work. I'm not usually a short story guy, but hers in A People's Future of the United States was so good that I grabbed The Stone Sky right after, and the only reason I didn't tear through that series beginning to end in a week...
Far Sector puts a new Green Lantern on a new beat and it's one of the most exciting things DC has done in ages.
It's awe inspiring to me that I can know from the moment a comic is announced that it is extremely For Me, and yet still be surprised at how good every issue is. It's even more impressive that I'm getting it from two creators who are relatively new to the medium. But that's the beauty of Far Sector: even when it's been great, it gets better.
I think my first exposure to N.K. Jemisin's writing was prose work. I'm not usually a short story guy, but hers in A People's Future of the United States was so good that I grabbed The Stone Sky right after, and the only reason I didn't tear through that series beginning to end in a week...
- 2/20/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 18, 2020
DC's zombie smash is back for another go, this time with more villains, including Deathstroke. And orphans. And Cassandra Cain Batgirl.
The best zombie stories always provide a mix of unrepentant storytelling, over the top gore, and psychologically screwed up moral choices for the characters -- think the zombie baby in Dawn of the Dead, or pick a moment at random from The Walking Dead.
DC Comics' zombie thriller DCeased had its fair share of those psychological moments, including the climax of the story, where Jon Kent had to fight off his zombified father just before the readers discovered there was a cure. That book's follow up, DCeased: Unkillables, is surely not going to skimp on them either.
“For the psychological aspect, I rely on my writer to guide me in the story,” Unkillables artist Karl Mostert tells us in an interview. “Tom Taylor [writer of both DCeased and Unkillables] has done...
DC's zombie smash is back for another go, this time with more villains, including Deathstroke. And orphans. And Cassandra Cain Batgirl.
The best zombie stories always provide a mix of unrepentant storytelling, over the top gore, and psychologically screwed up moral choices for the characters -- think the zombie baby in Dawn of the Dead, or pick a moment at random from The Walking Dead.
DC Comics' zombie thriller DCeased had its fair share of those psychological moments, including the climax of the story, where Jon Kent had to fight off his zombified father just before the readers discovered there was a cure. That book's follow up, DCeased: Unkillables, is surely not going to skimp on them either.
“For the psychological aspect, I rely on my writer to guide me in the story,” Unkillables artist Karl Mostert tells us in an interview. “Tom Taylor [writer of both DCeased and Unkillables] has done...
- 2/18/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 13, 2020
Daniel Warren Johnson is doing some of the best work of his young career taking Wonder Woman to the end of the age of man.
My first experience with Daniel Warren Johnson's comics work was probably his Image book, Murder Falcon, and my first thought was "Oh wow, he's new Stokoe." He's got a very similar vibe - that immaculate attention to detail, the panels that bubble over with imagination, and there's a wryness that I think is very subtle in both artists that people don't appreciate as much because the other skills are so immediately apparent.
But after thinking about it, and pouring over these exclusive preview pages of Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #2, I think I'm leaning towards Geof Darrow being a better comparison. Dead Earth has a little bit of a Shaolin Cowboy feel to it, and Johnson does some things very well, and...
Daniel Warren Johnson is doing some of the best work of his young career taking Wonder Woman to the end of the age of man.
My first experience with Daniel Warren Johnson's comics work was probably his Image book, Murder Falcon, and my first thought was "Oh wow, he's new Stokoe." He's got a very similar vibe - that immaculate attention to detail, the panels that bubble over with imagination, and there's a wryness that I think is very subtle in both artists that people don't appreciate as much because the other skills are so immediately apparent.
But after thinking about it, and pouring over these exclusive preview pages of Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #2, I think I'm leaning towards Geof Darrow being a better comparison. Dead Earth has a little bit of a Shaolin Cowboy feel to it, and Johnson does some things very well, and...
- 2/13/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 12, 2020
Snyder, Capullo, Glapion & Plascencia re-team for a follow up to the big crossover, Metal
After days of teasing, DC finally announced what we've all been expecting since Scott Snyder's Justice League wrapped: Dark Nights: Death Metal, the follow up to the gonzo 2017-18 crossover Dark Nights: Metal, the event that introduced the Dark Multiverse to the DC cosmology, a nightmare version of the DC Universe full of Bat-themed baddies.
If Metal read like it was born out of Greg Capullo whispering "memento metal" into Snyder's ear as they walked into a DC writer's retreat, then Death Metal sounds like what happens when Capullo trebuchets a milk crate full of Megadeth records through a brooding Snyder's living room window, convincing the writer to become what his enemies fear most: totally fucking brutal.
In case you haven't been following Metal or Justice League for the past few years,...
Snyder, Capullo, Glapion & Plascencia re-team for a follow up to the big crossover, Metal
After days of teasing, DC finally announced what we've all been expecting since Scott Snyder's Justice League wrapped: Dark Nights: Death Metal, the follow up to the gonzo 2017-18 crossover Dark Nights: Metal, the event that introduced the Dark Multiverse to the DC cosmology, a nightmare version of the DC Universe full of Bat-themed baddies.
If Metal read like it was born out of Greg Capullo whispering "memento metal" into Snyder's ear as they walked into a DC writer's retreat, then Death Metal sounds like what happens when Capullo trebuchets a milk crate full of Megadeth records through a brooding Snyder's living room window, convincing the writer to become what his enemies fear most: totally fucking brutal.
In case you haven't been following Metal or Justice League for the past few years,...
- 2/12/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 10, 2020
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are bringing Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey to DC's Black Label.
There’s something distinctly Looney Tunes about Harley Quinn, probably the combination of self-awareness and ultraviolent slapstick comedy. So when you ask Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti about the magnificent, luridly poetic profanity in Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey, their new Black Label collaboration on the character they steered for the better part of a decade, it’s hard not to hear Conner’s slow laugh as the glee of a cartoon artist’s paintbrush, getting ready to draw an anvil over Wile E. Coyote’s head. “That’s all Amanda, by the way,” says Palmiotti. “She’s the one [who makes] the sailors come running out of the bar, you know?”
“It’s funny, because when we were doing regular Harley,” Conner says, referring to the pair’s time writing the New 52-era,...
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are bringing Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey to DC's Black Label.
There’s something distinctly Looney Tunes about Harley Quinn, probably the combination of self-awareness and ultraviolent slapstick comedy. So when you ask Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti about the magnificent, luridly poetic profanity in Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey, their new Black Label collaboration on the character they steered for the better part of a decade, it’s hard not to hear Conner’s slow laugh as the glee of a cartoon artist’s paintbrush, getting ready to draw an anvil over Wile E. Coyote’s head. “That’s all Amanda, by the way,” says Palmiotti. “She’s the one [who makes] the sailors come running out of the bar, you know?”
“It’s funny, because when we were doing regular Harley,” Conner says, referring to the pair’s time writing the New 52-era,...
- 2/10/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 6, 2020
One of the execs behind Valiant's resurrection is starting a new publisher with a different plan. Meet Bad Idea.
Dinesh Shamdasani, one of the people who helped make Valiant Comics' rebirth in 2011 such a success, is back at it with a new comic company. For fans of his tenure with the Bloodshot publisher, this new venture is going to look familiar.
Shamdasani and his team announced Bad Idea Comics, a new publisher with a curious business model. The company plans on only releasing one or two titles a month, only as physical media, without collections or variant covers, to only 20 comic shops around the United States at launch (with plans to expand into more as certain criteria are met).
The creators on board include some outstanding names.
Joshua Dysart, writer of Imperium and The Life and Death of Toyo Harada. Jody Houser, the definitive writer behind Faith.
One of the execs behind Valiant's resurrection is starting a new publisher with a different plan. Meet Bad Idea.
Dinesh Shamdasani, one of the people who helped make Valiant Comics' rebirth in 2011 such a success, is back at it with a new comic company. For fans of his tenure with the Bloodshot publisher, this new venture is going to look familiar.
Shamdasani and his team announced Bad Idea Comics, a new publisher with a curious business model. The company plans on only releasing one or two titles a month, only as physical media, without collections or variant covers, to only 20 comic shops around the United States at launch (with plans to expand into more as certain criteria are met).
The creators on board include some outstanding names.
Joshua Dysart, writer of Imperium and The Life and Death of Toyo Harada. Jody Houser, the definitive writer behind Faith.
- 2/7/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Feb 4, 2020
The Eisner-bait comic, Strange Adventures, gets a new DC label to match its content.
Strange Adventures, the comic so hotly anticipated that DC is already making a show about it before it comes out, is in for some changes. The book, written by Tom King, with art from Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner and letters from Clayton Cowles, is being upgraded from a regular DC comic to the company's prestige mature readers format, Black Label.
"As Strange Adventures was coming together, we had to take a step back and look at what made the most sense for the project," said the project's editor, Jamie S. Rich. "Since its tone and themes are more in the vein of Mister Miracle than, say, Tom King’s work on Batman, we decided that it made more sense to give Strange Adventures its own space, where Tom, Mitch, Doc, and Clayton...
The Eisner-bait comic, Strange Adventures, gets a new DC label to match its content.
Strange Adventures, the comic so hotly anticipated that DC is already making a show about it before it comes out, is in for some changes. The book, written by Tom King, with art from Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner and letters from Clayton Cowles, is being upgraded from a regular DC comic to the company's prestige mature readers format, Black Label.
"As Strange Adventures was coming together, we had to take a step back and look at what made the most sense for the project," said the project's editor, Jamie S. Rich. "Since its tone and themes are more in the vein of Mister Miracle than, say, Tom King’s work on Batman, we decided that it made more sense to give Strange Adventures its own space, where Tom, Mitch, Doc, and Clayton...
- 2/4/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 30, 2020
Sina Grace & Mike Norton tackle DC's funniest hero and the results are predictably excellent.
It's not a massive retcon, or a huge character being brought back to prominence, by my favorite low-key development in comics in 2020 so far is Sina Grace gettting more work at DC. He wrote one of my favorite lost period X-comics and probably the definitive Iceman story, and his work at Boom! is consistently entertaining. He has such a strong authorial voice that shines through in all his work - it's clear and distinct, and balances dry and absurd comedy along with character drama so well. So handing him Plastic Man for a Valentine's Day-themed anthology book, DC's Crimes of Passion, is absolutely perfect.
In another moment of serendipity (or just really good editing), he's paired with Mike Norton. Norton is the creator of Battlepug, so obviously he's got a handle on cartooning ridiculous physical comedy.
Sina Grace & Mike Norton tackle DC's funniest hero and the results are predictably excellent.
It's not a massive retcon, or a huge character being brought back to prominence, by my favorite low-key development in comics in 2020 so far is Sina Grace gettting more work at DC. He wrote one of my favorite lost period X-comics and probably the definitive Iceman story, and his work at Boom! is consistently entertaining. He has such a strong authorial voice that shines through in all his work - it's clear and distinct, and balances dry and absurd comedy along with character drama so well. So handing him Plastic Man for a Valentine's Day-themed anthology book, DC's Crimes of Passion, is absolutely perfect.
In another moment of serendipity (or just really good editing), he's paired with Mike Norton. Norton is the creator of Battlepug, so obviously he's got a handle on cartooning ridiculous physical comedy.
- 1/30/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 23, 2020
The Blackstars battle the lone holdout in their plan for universal domination: the Justice League. Check out Green Lantern: Blackstars #3.
For a few months now, one of the big questions I've had in comics is "How the hell did Green Lantern #12 happen?" That series closed with Hal Jordan, so deep in his Blackstar cover that everyone believes he flipped and joined the fascist space army, using a Miracle Machine (the machine from the end of Final Crisis that turns wishes into reality) to reset reality. And the one that came out the other side of the Miracle Machine was a dark universe where the Blackstars were on the march, on the verge of consolidating their power once they finish off Earth.
This has been the crux of the plot of Green Lantern: Blackstars, and in this third and final issue (of which we've got an...
The Blackstars battle the lone holdout in their plan for universal domination: the Justice League. Check out Green Lantern: Blackstars #3.
For a few months now, one of the big questions I've had in comics is "How the hell did Green Lantern #12 happen?" That series closed with Hal Jordan, so deep in his Blackstar cover that everyone believes he flipped and joined the fascist space army, using a Miracle Machine (the machine from the end of Final Crisis that turns wishes into reality) to reset reality. And the one that came out the other side of the Miracle Machine was a dark universe where the Blackstars were on the march, on the verge of consolidating their power once they finish off Earth.
This has been the crux of the plot of Green Lantern: Blackstars, and in this third and final issue (of which we've got an...
- 1/23/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 18, 2020
In this preview of John Constantine, Hellblazer #3, the legendary dirtbag magician ducks fire and lyrics in England.
There's something weirdly soothing about the particular way Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell show what a scumbag John Constantine is. Not that he hasn't been a sleazeball in the past - it's part of his core appeal. He's a jackass con man who will sell out the people he loves at the drop of a hat, but usually because he believes he's got an elaborate multilevel screwjob planned that he thinks will leave him even with his friends and get him what he needs from the bad guy.
But there's something about how Spurrier writes him that feels...extra right. We're documented Spurrier fans. When he's on, he's amazing. But he can occasionally veer into..."wordy." It's almost always dialogue when it happens, so it's better than a wall of narration boxes.
In this preview of John Constantine, Hellblazer #3, the legendary dirtbag magician ducks fire and lyrics in England.
There's something weirdly soothing about the particular way Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell show what a scumbag John Constantine is. Not that he hasn't been a sleazeball in the past - it's part of his core appeal. He's a jackass con man who will sell out the people he loves at the drop of a hat, but usually because he believes he's got an elaborate multilevel screwjob planned that he thinks will leave him even with his friends and get him what he needs from the bad guy.
But there's something about how Spurrier writes him that feels...extra right. We're documented Spurrier fans. When he's on, he's amazing. But he can occasionally veer into..."wordy." It's almost always dialogue when it happens, so it's better than a wall of narration boxes.
- 1/18/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 18, 2020
Liam Sharp and Grant Morrison return to add Doctor Who and Top Gun vibes to The Green Lantern.
The first twelve issues of The Green Lantern were, in a word, bananapants. Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp took Hal Jordan and the space police of the Dcu, and sent them outside the universe to parallel worlds and deep inside of Hal’s ring. The book started with Hal arresting a creature that bears a strong resemblance to classical depictions of Christian God, sent him deep undercover with the fascist monster squad, and Sharp and Morrison eventually ended the first season of the book with Hal using a miracle machine to rewrite reality.
Since then, Morrison followed up the story with Green Lantern: Blackstars, the story of the world Hal created with his dark bride and Controller Mu’s evil mirror of the Glc. It wraps next week (spoilers:...
Liam Sharp and Grant Morrison return to add Doctor Who and Top Gun vibes to The Green Lantern.
The first twelve issues of The Green Lantern were, in a word, bananapants. Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp took Hal Jordan and the space police of the Dcu, and sent them outside the universe to parallel worlds and deep inside of Hal’s ring. The book started with Hal arresting a creature that bears a strong resemblance to classical depictions of Christian God, sent him deep undercover with the fascist monster squad, and Sharp and Morrison eventually ended the first season of the book with Hal using a miracle machine to rewrite reality.
Since then, Morrison followed up the story with Green Lantern: Blackstars, the story of the world Hal created with his dark bride and Controller Mu’s evil mirror of the Glc. It wraps next week (spoilers:...
- 1/18/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 13, 2020
Bryan Hitch, Warren Ellis and Alex Sinclair keep bringing the goods in the latest issue.
It's amazing how alike Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's The Batman's Grave is to their modern classic, The Authority. Ellis and Hitch are two of the most important comics creators in the history of the medium - their work on The Authority is one of the brightest dividers between comic book eras there is, like Showcase #4* -- the introduction of Barry Allen that marked the line between the Golden and Silver ages. And they bring that same energy to their new Batman story.
The big, sweeping, epic scenes that made The Authority such a big deal are all there in The Batman's Grave, along with wit so dry it's mummified. That's because of the talent of the creative team working on the book, Hitch tells us in an interview.
"Warren is one...
Bryan Hitch, Warren Ellis and Alex Sinclair keep bringing the goods in the latest issue.
It's amazing how alike Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's The Batman's Grave is to their modern classic, The Authority. Ellis and Hitch are two of the most important comics creators in the history of the medium - their work on The Authority is one of the brightest dividers between comic book eras there is, like Showcase #4* -- the introduction of Barry Allen that marked the line between the Golden and Silver ages. And they bring that same energy to their new Batman story.
The big, sweeping, epic scenes that made The Authority such a big deal are all there in The Batman's Grave, along with wit so dry it's mummified. That's because of the talent of the creative team working on the book, Hitch tells us in an interview.
"Warren is one...
- 1/13/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 7, 2020
Who will Christian Bale play in Thor: Love and Thunder?
The first big news out of the McU in 2020 is quite the doozy - Christian Bale is in talks to join Thor: Love and Thunder. Getting one of the most beloved Batman actors in history to join Marvel’s movies would be a pretty enormous coup. But it’s interesting that he’s potentially joining Taika Waititi’s Thor 4. Bale can play anyone, so why this movie? What character could possibly be enticing enough for him to come back to big franchise superheroes? We have some thoughts, and after consulting with our New Jersey branch (Den of Gambling), we’ve also decided to lay some odds on who he could be playing!
Please note: do not place any bets on who Christian Bale is playing in Thor: Love and Thunder. We will not honor any bets and...
Who will Christian Bale play in Thor: Love and Thunder?
The first big news out of the McU in 2020 is quite the doozy - Christian Bale is in talks to join Thor: Love and Thunder. Getting one of the most beloved Batman actors in history to join Marvel’s movies would be a pretty enormous coup. But it’s interesting that he’s potentially joining Taika Waititi’s Thor 4. Bale can play anyone, so why this movie? What character could possibly be enticing enough for him to come back to big franchise superheroes? We have some thoughts, and after consulting with our New Jersey branch (Den of Gambling), we’ve also decided to lay some odds on who he could be playing!
Please note: do not place any bets on who Christian Bale is playing in Thor: Love and Thunder. We will not honor any bets and...
- 1/7/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 8, 2020
There are big surprises coming to Marvel's X-Men!
Jonathan Hickman and the rest of the Dawn of X crew have done great work with villains since the post-House of X/Powers of X status quo emerged. Orchis somehow got better in X-Men than they were in House of X/Powers of X, while Morgan Le Fay and the Marauders in Excalibur and X-Force are great tone-setter baddies for first stories. And perhaps the neatest trick Hickman’s pulled so far is turning late stage capitalism into an antihero in X-Men #4. But a promo and the story title for the next issue are combining to make a quick, throwaway moment from the first issue be the most exciting thing to happen to the X-Men since Wolverine gutted Moira MacTaggart an entire lifetime ago: the Children of the Vault are back!
No, not the Children of Tomorrow (but that...
There are big surprises coming to Marvel's X-Men!
Jonathan Hickman and the rest of the Dawn of X crew have done great work with villains since the post-House of X/Powers of X status quo emerged. Orchis somehow got better in X-Men than they were in House of X/Powers of X, while Morgan Le Fay and the Marauders in Excalibur and X-Force are great tone-setter baddies for first stories. And perhaps the neatest trick Hickman’s pulled so far is turning late stage capitalism into an antihero in X-Men #4. But a promo and the story title for the next issue are combining to make a quick, throwaway moment from the first issue be the most exciting thing to happen to the X-Men since Wolverine gutted Moira MacTaggart an entire lifetime ago: the Children of the Vault are back!
No, not the Children of Tomorrow (but that...
- 1/6/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Jan 6, 2020
In case you were wondering, Krypto is the very best dog in all of comics.
There is an ongoing argument in my household about who the best dog in comics is. And before you ask, yes the debate predates the arrival of our toddler. This is an important question. Anyway, we have at various times taken several positions. Sometimes it was Pizza Dog from Hawkeye. One time it was Ace the Bat-hound (it was right when the first post-Rebirth Batman annual hit). Thori and Cosmo from Guardians of the Galaxy are non-starters even though I love them dearly (they're more like people than dogs). But the argument almost always comes down to Lockjaw vs. Krypto, and in Supergirl #38, Jody Houser and Rachael Stott provide some pretty definitive evidence that it's Krypto.
I'm not going to try and pretend it's anything complicated like who's got the best stories...
In case you were wondering, Krypto is the very best dog in all of comics.
There is an ongoing argument in my household about who the best dog in comics is. And before you ask, yes the debate predates the arrival of our toddler. This is an important question. Anyway, we have at various times taken several positions. Sometimes it was Pizza Dog from Hawkeye. One time it was Ace the Bat-hound (it was right when the first post-Rebirth Batman annual hit). Thori and Cosmo from Guardians of the Galaxy are non-starters even though I love them dearly (they're more like people than dogs). But the argument almost always comes down to Lockjaw vs. Krypto, and in Supergirl #38, Jody Houser and Rachael Stott provide some pretty definitive evidence that it's Krypto.
I'm not going to try and pretend it's anything complicated like who's got the best stories...
- 1/6/2020
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Dec 30, 2019
Bizarro uses baffling verb tense to wreck space-time in The Terrifics.
Gene Luen Yang made our Best Comics of 2019 list for Superman Smashes the Klan, and it is an incredible Superman comic. It's already one of my all-time favorites. I can't wait for it to wrap and come out in a digest I can pass on to newer readers in my life. But if you factor in degree of difficulty, I think his work on The Terrifics might actually be better.
First of all, the last several issues have been written with healthy doses of Bizarro-speak. Trying to reverse dialogue on its own is difficult enough, but when we talked to him about Superman Smashes the Klan earlier this year, Bizarro came up and Yang told us something terrifying: "...There's no established rules for Bizarro speak."
That's right. There's no established house rule for how to translate normal conversation into Bizarro.
Bizarro uses baffling verb tense to wreck space-time in The Terrifics.
Gene Luen Yang made our Best Comics of 2019 list for Superman Smashes the Klan, and it is an incredible Superman comic. It's already one of my all-time favorites. I can't wait for it to wrap and come out in a digest I can pass on to newer readers in my life. But if you factor in degree of difficulty, I think his work on The Terrifics might actually be better.
First of all, the last several issues have been written with healthy doses of Bizarro-speak. Trying to reverse dialogue on its own is difficult enough, but when we talked to him about Superman Smashes the Klan earlier this year, Bizarro came up and Yang told us something terrifying: "...There's no established rules for Bizarro speak."
That's right. There's no established house rule for how to translate normal conversation into Bizarro.
- 12/30/2019
- Den of Geek
Jim Dandy Dec 30, 2019
We've read a Ton of great comics in the last 10 years, and we picked out the 100 best for you to passionately disagree with.
What a century this last decade has been.
Seriously, the pace of change over the last 10 years has been steadily rising, and has been somewhere between “dangerous” and “murderous” for the last 3, and that isn’t just about geopolitics: the comics world of today is certainly recognizable to a time traveller from 2010, but it would look extremely weird.
- Webcomics and medium press publishers are Everywhere now.
- Marvel has embraced multiple restarts of its line.
- DC has rebooted its universe at least twice.
- Comics are for kids again.
- Nerds rule culture, for all that’s good and bad.
These changes have been catalysts for some very, very good comic books, and we wanted to give you a list of some of our favorites.
We've read a Ton of great comics in the last 10 years, and we picked out the 100 best for you to passionately disagree with.
What a century this last decade has been.
Seriously, the pace of change over the last 10 years has been steadily rising, and has been somewhere between “dangerous” and “murderous” for the last 3, and that isn’t just about geopolitics: the comics world of today is certainly recognizable to a time traveller from 2010, but it would look extremely weird.
- Webcomics and medium press publishers are Everywhere now.
- Marvel has embraced multiple restarts of its line.
- DC has rebooted its universe at least twice.
- Comics are for kids again.
- Nerds rule culture, for all that’s good and bad.
These changes have been catalysts for some very, very good comic books, and we wanted to give you a list of some of our favorites.
- 12/23/2019
- Den of Geek
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