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phantom-le6 · 2 years ago

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Ramble of the month June 2023: Phase 2 of the Batman Begins-Led DCEU

This ramble is coming so late in the month of June simply because I wasn’t quite sure what to write about. I had hoped to land on something a bit more general current affairs or otherwise different from my usual run of Marvel and DC-related articles, but the one idea I have in that line is very much in its infancy and will take a while to work out how best to do. As such, I’ve decided to quickly put my alternate DCEU up to the same level as my 90’s MCU that I did a ramble for last month.

With my alternate DCEU, as those who read my March ramble will remember, the idea was that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is used to kick-off a wider continuity, producing what I would hope was a better, more consistent and cohesive superhero film universe. To recap, the alternate DCEU I’ve come up with begins in 2005 with Batman Begins and works on a basis of one film a year, then two as the momentum builds, and the break-down of those films is as follows:

2005: Batman Begins

2006: Man of Steel

2007: Wonder Woman

2008: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern

2009: The Flash, Man of Steel 2

2010: Aquaman, Justice League

Going into the second stage of this alternate DCEU, the films shift into the three-per-year pattern I also use in my 90’s-based alternate MCU. The slate for this hypothetical DCEU phase 2 breaks down like so:

2011: Wonder Woman 2, Green Lantern 2, Green Arrow

2012: Hawkman, Batman/Superman, Aquaman 2

2013: John Constantine, The Flash 2, Suicide Squad

2014: Justice League 2, Green Arrow 2, Batman: The Long Crusade

As you can see, solo hero film sequels make up a fair chunk of the phase, but so do introductions for more solo heroes, and we also get more films based around teams and ensemble casts. How do these then interconnect to tell a story? Well so far, Batman’s first two solo films went much the way Nolan made them in real life, but with the cover-up of Harvey Dent’s crimes, etc. in the Dark Knight being done in a pro-Batman way, enabling his inclusion in the Justice League. Superman got his solo introduction in an earlier version of Man of Steel, then better defined himself with the aid of Martian Manhunter against the likes of Lex Luthor and Metallo in a sequel.

In turn, Wonder Woman’s origins remain very much World War I-centric in this film-verse, the Flash gets his introduction in a clash with the Rogues instead of doing Flashpoint, while Green Lantern goes through a revised origin based on the ret-con done when Hal Jordan was resurrected in the comics. As for Aquaman, that film is designed around the 2018 version, but changing some elements as well (Aquaman learns about his Atlantean origins as an adult, his mother is only usurped rather than executed, etc.) This all then leads to a Justice League film where the League battles the White Martians, based on Grant Morrison’s JLA: New World Order.

With this as our foundation point, let’s look at what the phase 2 films offer.

Wonder Woman 2 (2011) Directed by Gates McFadden

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

King Faraday = Bradley Cooper

Maxwell Lord = Zachary Quinto

Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah = Kirsten Wiig

Paula Von Gunther = Diane Kruger

Sensei = Chow Yun-Fat

This film borrows only slightly from Wonder Woman 84 of the real DCEU. It involves Diana, Maxwell Lord, Cheetah and the Dreamstone, but a lot about it is also changed. The film is set in the 1960’s during the Vietnam war, and Wonder Woman is coerced into helping government agent King Faraday hunt down rogue businessman Maxwell Lord and Nazi war criminal Paula Von Gunther, both of whom seek the Dreamstone. The villains are also accompanied by the reluctant archaeologist Barbara Ann Minerva, and their quest takes them to Nanda Parbat for the final act, bringing them into conflict with Ra’s Al Ghul’s predecessor Sensei (since Ra’s got white-washed in Batman Begins by the casting of Liam Neeson, we can’t claim Sensei as Ra’s father as per the comics).

I’ve retained Gates McFadden as director from my alternate version of the first Wonder Woman, and Kate Beckinsale as my alternate Wonder Woman, while Kirsten Wiig is the only carry-over from Wonder Woman 84. Everyone else is a fresh casting, and I’ve very purposely left Steve Trevor (played in this alternate DCEU by Heath Ledger to leave the Joker role for Willem Dafoe). Comics have a bad tendency towards not letting death stick, and except for a small handful of cases, I don’t think it’s a habit the films should follow.

Green Lantern 2 (2011) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

*John Stewart = Derek Luke

*Guy Gardner = Damian Lewis

Thaal Sinestro = Mark Strong

*Katma Tui = Mila Kunis

Kilowog = Tyrese Gibson

Tomar-Re = Hugh Laurie

Salaak = Dominic West

Arisia Rrab = Anna Paquin

*Boodikka = Gina Carano

*Ke'Haan = Kevin Durand

*Laira = Emma Stone

*Kreon = Ryan Philippe

Carl Ferris = Kurt Russell

Tom Kalmaku = Taika Waititi

Andy = Connor Trinneer

Biff = Josh Lucas

Ganthet = Patrick Stewart

Sayd = Glenn Close

Appa Ali Apsa = Hugo Weaving

*Lyssa Drak = Angelina Jolie

*Arkillo = John Cena

*Amon Sur = Ben Foster

*Romat-Ru = Ian McShane

With our first GL film bringing Hal Jordan into the corps and having him and Sinestro team-up to take down Black Hand and Atrocitus, the second now has room to really play with the Hal-Sinestro dynamic. In this film, Sinestro goes rogue early on and is imprisoned by the crops, only to be broken out by members of his fledling Sinestro-Corps, the fear-wielding Yellow Lanterns that are the antithesis of the Green Lanterns. As the Green Lanterns are rocked by the rise of the Yellow Lanterns, Hal is forced to find his trust again and recruits fellow humans Guy Gardner and John Stewart to aid him against Sinestro.

Again, we’re keeping the director from a first film into a second, and much of the cast is retained from the earlier film. For ease of reference, the new additions for this film are marked with asterisks, and those from Lyssa Drak down are all Yellow Lanterns; every other new character added is a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Where possible, I’ve tried to go for notable actors who I feel can really create the sense that we’re watching two corps of ring-wielding warriors; one group very much a kind of space-police, the others more like terror-wielding space-maniacs.

Green Arrow (2011) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Robert Queen = Michael Ironside

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Tommy Merlyn/Dark Archer = Dean Cain

William Tockman/Clock King = Bill Irwin

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

China White = Kelly Hu

The emerald archer is someone DC has constantly talked about giving a solo film to, but somehow never seem to get around to, something that’s rather surprising considering the character’s efficacy in recent years kicking off TV’s Arrowverse continuity. As such, I really wanted my hypothetical DCEU to give this character the cinematic chance DC and Warner Brothers don’t seem to be offering. Going through various films I know to come up with a good director, I’ve landed on Simon West of The Mechanic and various other action films to lead on this one.

For the title role, I picked Ethan Hawke based on an age similarity to the actors I’ve already picked out for Green Lantern and Flash, since Green Arrow is closer to those heroes than to most others when joining the Justice League. As such, picking someone too much younger or older risks creating a mentor/mentee relationship instead. It also doesn’t hurt that Hawke is a good actor, and for his co-lead, co-hero and love interest, I’ve picked Malin Akerman based on her performance in Watchmen.

Other cast members mostly vary from notable film actors to CSI alumni. My notable options in terms of picking up anyone who has had other DC-related roles include Dean Cain (Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Michael Ironside (the voice of Darkseid in the DC Animated Universe) and Christian Slater, who plays Deadshot in the DC Animated Movie Universe. I’m also aware Kelly Hu plays the role of China White in the Arrow TV series, and decided this was a casting worthy of transfer into my alternate DCEU.

Hawkman (2012) Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Carter Hall/Hawkman = Sullivan Stapleton

Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl = Jessica Alba

Carl Sands/Shadow Thief = Rupert Friend

James Craddock/Gentleman Ghost = Benedict Cumberbatch

Khufu = Adrian Lester

Chay-Ara = Naomie Harris

Hath-Set = Colin Salmon

Cinnamon = Bryce Dallas-Howard

Nighthawk = Chris Pratt

Commissioner Emmett = Robert Wagner

Stewart Frazier = Anthony Mackie

Professor Ziegler = John Rhys-Davies

Emma Ziegler = Reese Witherspoon

Hawkman is one of those superheroes who really needs his own film before you go shoving him into team films, something the people on Black Adam didn’t realise apparently. After all, this guy is one-half of a regularly reincarnating duo, and frankly learning this has somewhat spoiled my affection for the old Justice League animated series by bringing in Hawkgirl alone. Regardless, it’s something best done in its own film, and this time I’ve picked Thor director Ken Branagh, based on his work on both Thor and the most recent film version of Death on the Nile.

The fun thing about Hawkman and Hawkgirl is they reincarnate, so any film focusing on the pair for origin purposes can shift between time periods, and in the process use different actors for the roles. Black British actors Adrian Lester and Naomie Harris play the pair in their Ancient Egyptian incarnations opposite Collin Salmon, while their “wild west” incarnations are played by Jurassic World duo Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas-Howard. This leaves the modern versions to be played by Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of an Empire) and Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four, Sin City). Rupert Friend and Benedict Cumberbatch then play the modern-day antagonists, each with roots in those past lives. A few notable actors then round out the cast in some supporting roles.

Batman/Superman (2012) Directed by Rob Marshall

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

Mercy Graves = Scarlett Johannsen

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Dabney Donovan = Emile Hirsch

Joseph Martin/Atomic Skull = John Cena

General Swanwick = Harry Lennix

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Jim Harper/Guardian = Bobby Cannavale

Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning = Jamie Foxx

Rex Mason/Metamorpho = Karl Urban

Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana = Devon Aoki

Prince Brian Markov/Geo-Force = Daniel Brühl

Jennifer Lynn-Hayden/Jade = Rachel Nichols

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

John Corbin/Metallo = Orlando Bloom

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Major Disaster/Paul Booker = Dave Bautista

Parasite/Rudy Jones = Alexander Skarsgård

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Unlike Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, I’m not trying to do a hero-on-hero clash based on an Elseworlds graphic novel. Instead, I’m taking my cue for this one from the DC animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Much like that film, this one would have Superman framed by Lex Luthor for the murder of a supervillain. As the government and public alike turn against him, Superman has to turn to Batman for aid in proving his innocence. The government’s efforts at apprehending Superman result in the enlistment of the Suicide Squad, giving the villain team an intro ahead of their own film, and to combat them, Batman brings in the Outsiders.

As a result, this film becomes something of an ensemble picture, which is a key reason why Rob Marshall is my chosen director. Marshall directed the fourth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as the recent live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Such films doubtless give him not only experience in directing the fantastical, but also dealing with large ensemble casts. Speaking of which, the film retains a fair number of actors from the Batman and Superman solo films of this alternate DCEU, and most notably pairs Christian Bale with Brandon Routh in the title roles. John Cena also gets a second DCEU role, as he also appears as Arkillo in Green Lantern 2. Both roles would be mo-cap CGI, though, so factor in appropriate voice effects for each role and it’s an easy double-cast to excuse.

As for the two teams involved, the Outsiders have largely gone unused in film, with only the misplaced Katana turning up in the Suicide Squad film of 2016, and I’ve recast that role to Devon Aoki simply because that’s an actress I’m aware of. In turn, the only Suicide Squad casting I’ve retained from the 2016 film has been Viola Davis and Joel Kinnaman. The rest of the squad is either gathered from this film-verse’s past instalments (Deadshot, Boomerang, Metallo and Vertigo), or they’re new to this film (Killer Frost, Disaster and Parasite). The squad’s selection, in turn, is about combining fan favourites with villains who can put Superman in jeopardy.

Aquaman 2 (2012) Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Thomas Curry = Bill Pullman

Atlanna = Kim Catrall

Mera = Felicity Jones

Orm/Ocean Master = Taylor Kitsch

Vulko = Jonathan Frakes

Dr Stephen Chin = Tadanobu Asano

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Scavenger/Peter Mortimer = James Franco

Siren/Hila = Felicity Jones

Aqualad/Garth = Luke Benward

Yes folks, I’ve brought back Trek actor/director Jonathan Frakes to helm the second Aquaman film while also reprising the role of Vulko. With Aquaman now ruling Atlantis and preparing to marry Mera, and the treacherous Orm now imprisoned, Black Manta returns for revenge, aided by Mera’s villainous twin sister Siren and human criminal Scavenger. This film is also the first to start in on the idea of superhero apprentices by bringing in Garth, better known to comic fans as Aqualad, or Tempest to use his latter-day codename. The cast is largely unchanged from film 1, and Siren being a twin to Mera allows for an obvious double-casting in those roles. As a result, only James Franco and Luke Benward are new additions. Franco, of course, is well known for roles in the Raimi-Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, the first film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes continuity and various others. Benward, by comparison, is a former Disney Channel actor with a decent filmography even by the time of this film, and he is of an age to integrate well with others I’ve cast with a view to setting up for a Teen Titans film or two down the line.

John Constantine (2013) Directed by Sam Raimi

John Constantine = Matt Ryan

Zatanna = Katrina Law

Jason Blood/Etrigan = Eddie Redmayne

Alec Holland/Swamp Thing = David Harbour

Dr Fate/Kent Nelson = Mads Mikkelsen

Inza Nelson = Tessa Thompson

Morgan Le Fey = Elizabeth Hurley

Mordred = Will Poulter

Felix Faust = Brad Douriff

Enchantress/Dr June Moone = Keira Knightley/Natalie Portman

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Having learned that Constantine is Liverpudlian in the comics, I’m certainly avoiding the use of Keanu and other non-British actors for the role in this alternate DCEU. The Americanisation of non-US roles is something I can’t stand generally, and when it’s done to a character from any part of Britain, I get even more ticked. As such, I’ve retained the Arrowverse and DCAMU choice for the role, Matt Ryan, going into this film. It’s largely a one-off, but the film has Constantine dealing with the return of Morgan Le Gey and her son Mordred, figures from Arthurian history, aided along the way by several other mystic heroes. Unlike the DCAMU’s Justice League Dark, this film isn’t about a team-up; rather, it’s more of an Indiana Jones-meets-horror adventure, with Zatanna and Jason Blood being the only ones along for the ride in the long-haul.

Given the horror aspect, I’d be putting this film in Sam Raimi’s hands, and throwing in a veritable who’s who of quality actors. For the Enchantress, I’ve actually cast two women to play the role for one very simple reason. The Enchantress of DC lore is a separate entity from the woman she possesses, and I think casting two actresses that can appear similar to play each character is a different way to do that. Since two people pretending to be one was a trick Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman had to pull in the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace, I think it’s a good idea to use that same casting here as an homage. As for Bruce Campbell, I’ve not put him on the cast list but I know he’d show up in a suitable comedy relief moment. An obnoxious American tourist Constantine could put some minor curse on for a quick laugh seems appropriate.

The Flash 2 (2013) Directed by JJ Abrams

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash = Jake Gyllenhaal

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Det. Ira West = William Sadler

Dr Henry Allen = Harrison Ford

Darryl Fyre = William Russ

Capt. Singh = Faran Tahir

Patty Spivot = Cameron Diaz

Tina McGee = Pauley Perrette

Francisco "Cisco" Ramone/Vibe = Wilmer Valderrama

Ralph Dibney/Elongated Man = Ben Savage

Sue Dearborn = Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mari McCabe/Vixen = Lupita Nyong'o

Captain Cold/Leonard Snart = Rob Lowe

Heatwave/Mick Rory = Ron Perlman

The second Flash film sees the Flash becoming increasingly established as Central City’s de facto superhero, even inspiring other metahumans to become heroes. However, it isn’t long before Barry finds his new life in jeopardy, thanks to the sociopathic nature of time-travelling speedster Eobard Thawne, otherwise known as the Reverse-Flash. This film brings back much of the first film’s cast, with Jake Gyllenhaal taking on the villain role as Wilmer Valerrama (NCIS), Ben Savage (Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World) and Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) play the hero roles. Mary Elizabeth Winstead then rounds out the roles by playing Sue Dearborn, the love interest for fledgling hero Elongated Man.

Director-wise, we’re again unchanged from original to sequel; I picked Abrams for his work on the rebooted Star Trek films, and for now I think he’s still the one to direct the Flash. That’s not to say all sequels in this film run, or in my 90’s-based MCU, will retain the same director for each hero or team. It just happens that in this case, I’ve kept a lot of the titles consistent because I honestly think the less you can change your director and any recurring cast roles, the better.

Suicide Squad (2013) Directed by Guy Ritchie

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

Mirror Master/Sam Scudder = Terrence Howard

Garfield Lynns/Firefly = Chaning Tatum

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Sameer Park/Copperhead = Sendhil Ramamurthy

Siobhan Smythe/Silver Banshee = Katie McGrath

Bette San Souce/Plastique = Elisha Cuthbert

Eric Needham/Black Spider = Mehcad Brooks

Brian Durlin/Savant = Michael Rooker

Roman Sionis/Black Mask = Ewan McGregor

General Wade Eiling = Clancy Brown

King = Cuba Gooding Jr.

Queen = Jennifer Lopez

Jack = Mark Whalberg

Ten = Jaimie Alexander

Ace = Chris Hemsworth

For this film, I feel it’s to go with Guy Ritchie as director, as his work directing films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels makes him a natural fit for covering a film that’s all about criminals. In this film, the plot would be about Black Mask hiring the Royal Flush Gang to steal classified military intelligence. The intel is in three parts, and the Suicide Squad is called in. Their mission; either capture the Royal Flush Gang for interrogation or follow them to find out where Black Mask is hiding the intel. Again, this is a huge ensemble cast, and the film will inevitably involve a body-count by its very nature. The cast includes a huge number of notable actors, some of which are brought over from other roles in TV’s Arrowverse. The only repeat from the DCEU not previously mentioned in this ramble is of course Michael Rooker as Savant, which is a transferred casting from James Gunn’s Suicide Squad film.

Justice League 2 (2014) Directed by Alan Taylor

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Vandal Savage = Gerard Butler

Talia Al Ghul = Marion Cotillard

Giganta = Hayley Atwell

Amazo = Steve Austin

Professor Anthony Ivo = Brent Spiner

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

William Hand/Black Hand = Wes Bentley

Weather Wizard/Mark Mardon = Michael Fassbender

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Snapper Carr = Josh Duhamel

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

The second Justice League film follows a similar tact to the animated DC film Justice League: Doom. In other words, a major villain manages to uncover contingency plans Batman developed to take down his fellow heroes if they went rogue. These plans are then adapted and used against the Justice League. Both films are based on JLA: Tower of Babel, but in our film as with the animated version, the lead villain role shifts from Ra’s Al Ghul to Vandal Savage. However, I’ve included Talia because we’re now way off Nolan’s original Batman trilogy, and yet I still want to see the thread of Talia’s vengeance on Bruce retained. Also, Talia stole Batman’s contingency plans in the comics, so it’s a good way to get back to being true-to-source.

Much of the cast is recurring from past films, with only a handful of the villains being fresh additions on this film. I also add in Amazo and his creator Professor Ivo as opening villains, with Amazo later coming back for certain plot-points. Since Amazo is an android, I thought it would be fund having Brent Spiner, who played Data in Star Trek: TNG, appearing as Amazo’s creator. The whole thing is directed by Alan Taylor, who I think did a good job on Thor: The Dark World despite popular opinion to the contrary. I’d be curious to see how he handled a Justice League film instead, especially one with all the twists and turns this one would involve.

Green Arrow 2 (2014) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Roy Harper/Speedy = Cameron Monaghan

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Grant Wilson/Ravager = Andrew Garfield

Carrie Cutter/Cupid = Serinda Swan

Prometheus = Sebastian Stan

Dr Arthur Light = James McAvoy

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

In this second Green Arrow film, the Justice League approaches Oliver Queen about replacing Batman on the team. Oliver, however, initially refuses because while he disagrees with Batman’s methods, he is aware the League lacks sufficient regard for the idea that fail-safes should exist. When a group of villains then manage to make three of the League go rogue, it falls to Green Arrow, Black Canary and young hero Speedy to set things right. While things kind of work out and result in Ollie joining the league, Wonder Woman leaves because she isn’t willing to concede her objection to the idea of checks and balances.

Once again, the director and most of the case are consistent from film 1 to film 2. Beyond the guest appearances of some League members, the new cast is all bound up in addition of Cameron Monaghan (the proto-Joker in TV series Gotham) and our quartet of villains.

Batman: The Long Crusade (2014) Directed by Matt Reeves

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Richard “Dick” Grayson/Robin = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Lucius Fox = Morgan Freeman

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin = Sean Astin

Arnold Stromwell = Steve Buscemi

Rupert Thorne = Vincent D'Onofrio

Tony Zucco = Robert Iler

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow = Cillian Murphy

Dr Lesley Thompkins = Rene Russo

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

Det. Crispus Allen = Djimon Honsou

Det. Peter Foley = Matt Le Blanc

For the third solo Batman film, and the last one in this phase, things change a lot more. First off, the directorial reins transfer to Matt Reeves. Second, we’re dealing with a Batman who is on the outs with the Justice League following the events of JL2. At the same time, a gang war is brewing in Gotham between the Penguin and rival mob bosses Arnold Stromwell and Rupert Thorne, following Black Mask’s fall in Suicide Squad. In the midst of all this, Stromwell’s nephew Tony Zucco returns, having killed the parent of Richard “Dick” Grayson a year earlier.

The film is essentially looking at Batman trying to distance himself from others due to trust issues, only to be made to realise he can’t do this, and just because some of his fellow heroes haven’t understood him or his ways doesn’t mean others don’t understand him. Again, we have a fair number of returning cast members, but also plenty of new ones, include Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking on the role of Robin. The film also expands Batman’s supporting cast by working in more notable members of the GCPD and Bruce’s surrogate mother figure, Dr Lesley Thompkins.

So, that concludes the second instalment in our alternate DCEU for the time being. Hopefully I can think of enough other things to discuss in future rambles to keep us from coming back to this or my 90’s-based MCU too soon. However, if there’s sufficient positive response, I can always come back to both in due course. Anyway, until the next ramble, ta-ta for now.

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docgold13 · 3 years ago

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Is it true that Atom (Ray Palmer) and Hawkman were good friends? Older fans I've met says they are yet I've not come across any comics that demonstrate this. Also how the hell did Hawkman and Hawkgirl have such a messed up continuity?

It is indeed true that The Atom and Hawkman used to be good pals and often shared adventures together. Although the majority of said adventures were back in the sixties and early 70's.

The two first joined forces in the pages of The Atom #7 (1963) and the pair were frequently teamed up in much the same way as Barry Allen and Hal Jordan used to be. Their individual series were even merged for awhile toward the end of the ’60s.

From there, The Atom was often seen standing atop Hawkman's shoulder when they were members of the 'satellite era' of Justice League America. Their friendship became less and less spotlighted as time went on. Although I did see the the two were reunited in a 2018 issue of Hawkman. Whether or not they are still pals in the ver-shifting continuity of DC Comics is a question I don't know the answer to.

As to why Hawkman and Hawkwoman have such convoluted backstories... my only reply would be shoddy writing. Granted, I'm not a comic writer and don't really know how difficult it is to write these stories, but it seemed like a procession of writers just kept taking new and different stabs at retelling Hawkman's origin so that it became a total quagmire.

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davidmann95 · 6 years ago

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Best comics of 2018?

A handful of disqualifications up front: since they’re just beginning, I’m not counting Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter, The Green Lantern (though Evil Star explaining his name in #2 might be my favorite moment in comics this year), Ironheart, DIE, Shazam!, Killmonger, The Batman Who Laughs, or Miles Morales: Spider-Man, all of which almost certainly would have ended up somewhere in here with some more time. Additionally, I switched to a new online pull list system in March, so I don’t have a list of what I got before then - if I’m forgetting about something great that came out early this year, there’s a good chance that would be why.

Honorary Mentions: While there were plenty of comics I was happy to keep up with, a number stood out as exemplary examples of straight-take relatively traditional capeshit: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and companies’ Justice League, Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America (which would probably go among the best of the best if the art was a bit more consistent or the lineup more to my personal tastes), Brian Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman work in the Walmart 100-Page Giants, Donny Cates’ Thanos and Doctor Strange work (the latter might not have quite made it, but that last issue with Irving and Zdarsky was gangbusters), Steve Orlando’s brief Wonder Woman run with Laura Braga, ACO, and Raul Allen, Tim Seeley’s Green Lanterns, Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero’s Shuri, Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch’s Hawkman, Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Rod Reis, Dario Brizuela, and Joe Quinones’s Exiles, Captain America by both the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee team and the current Ta-Nehisi Coates/Lenil Francis Yu lineup, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti’s Tony Stark: Iron Man when it’s committed solely to being a superhero comic and not Dan Slott trying to be Contemporary, Brian Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, and Ryan Sook’s Action Comics, and Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli’s West Coast Avengers.

On the slightly different side of things, Steve Orlando and Giovanni Timpano showed how you do an intercompany crossover right with The Shadow/Batman, Max Bemis’s Moon Knight while not living up to all it could have been - and likely to age poorly - had moments of truly bizarre grace, Saga was Saga even if I’ve lost the plot, Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt concluded as well as we all might have hoped, Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt’s The Wild Storm continued to build up steam in its own fascinating style, Doomsday Clock remains utterly captivating in spite of itself, and Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s The Wrong Earth is making the most of a deceptively tough premise. On the one-off end, Chip Zdarsky and Declan Shalvey’s Marvel Two-In-One Annual is an essentially perfect off-kilter Doom/Richards story, Action Comics #1000 had no chance of living up to all it needed to be but was largely a great set of Superman stories regardless, and while the remainder of the miniseries has thus far been fine, Tim Seeley and Carlos Villa’s first issue of Shatterstar was a strange, special delight.

My Favorite Comics of 2018

Rock Candy Mountain: Technically Jackson - the rail-rider who can beat Any One Man in a fistfight - reached the end of his journey for hobo heaven this year, and flat-out, every Kyle Starks comic is a perfect one. This is a book where the first issue has a dude beating ass with a beautiful savagery that leaves an awestruck onlooker declaring “He’s got punch diarrhea and their faces are the toilet bowl”, and by the end it built up to one of the most moving climaxes of the year. It’s a comic about fallen men finding redemption in friendship and in dreams, and also there’s a cage fighter who calls himself Hundred Cats because it would be really hard to fight a hundred cats.

Dark Knights: Metal: This is the final, perfected form of traditional Event Comic Bullshit. Everything good about Snyder, Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia’s Batman post-Court Of Owls is retooled and reenergized to fit the scale of a Crisis event, everything that I would have considered to be a weakness regarding their partnership either burned away or placed in a context where it becomes a strength. This is the Morrison approach to the DCU rightfully ascendant and presented in a form even more fit for mass consumption, and manages to live up to being the first classic-style, large-scale DC event comic in almost a decade - Marvel may blow its own load every six months until it’s simply got nothing to offer anymore, but DC waited until they really and truly had something, and that something was bloodsoaked magic.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (by Chip Zdarsky and assorted artists): I actually wavered a bit on whether this belonged in the best of the best as a whole; most of the issues this year were definitely very good (regarding Zdarsky’s run specifically, I haven’t checked out the Spider-Geddon tie-in stuff), but more on the honorary mention end of the scale. Ultimately however, the Amazing Fantasy arc and #310 are Spider-Man comics I’m going to be coming back to for years to come - the latter is going to end up in every ‘Best Spider-Man Stories Ever’ softcover from now until the end of time - and they tipped the scales.

Batman: Very much in the same boat as Spidey above; a lot of this year didn’t do it for me in the same way as this run has in the past, but The Best Man is the best thing anyone’s done with Joker since Morrison, the ‘wedding issue’ itself worked really well for me, Cold Days made a premise that’s often stymied creators work as well as people have always wanted it to, and the Dick team-up issue was a perfect little summation of a relationship, nevermind how much this year succeeded in getting me hyped up for things to come.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: This is one of those comics where it’s so consistently good in such a specific, quiet way that people stop talking about it, but for real, this has never not in the top five or six things Marvel is publishing at any given time for as long as it’s been around. Erica Henderson leaving right before hitting the Kraven story that had been building literally since its first issue 3 years earlier could have been disastrous, but North and new artist Derek Charm manage to hit their own rhythm and continue delivering one of the funniest, cleverest, most sincere superbooks on the stands every month.

Mister Miracle: Yeah, it really was that good.

The Immortal Hulk: So is this, and if I have to name a single best comic of the year, this has probably gotta be it. Al Ewing’s been Marvel’s best creator for a long, long time, and putting him and Joe Bennett (who holy moley, I don’t think anyone would have guessed had this in him) on a tentpole character Ewing’s got genuine reverence for worked out even better than a fanboy like me might have expected. It’s sublime horror, it’s perfect Marvel comics continuity bullshit, and if the superhero is at heart a morality fable, this is very much a soul-searing apex of the genre as it speaks of how we can all go wrong.

Eternity Girl: …or maybe this is the best? It’s probably gotta be this, Hulk, or Miracle. Mister Miracle’s where the comparison really becomes clear, as they’re both books way out on the fringes of the DCU dealing with a character grappling with depression amidst the mundanity of their cyclical existence. However, as perfectly constructed and rawly human as Mister Miracle is, this hits a lot more of my own buttons and expresses its own brand of more surreal emotional authenticity, and rather than the expected and beautiful next step of a pair of already-acclaimed creators with an established partnership, this was a shock coming out party for Visaggio and Liew, who do things stylistically just as odd to see in a DC Comic as anything King and Gerads came up with. It seemed to sail under the radar for readers but also seems to be racking up awards, and I hope this’ll attain the reputation it deserves in years to come.

Ice Cream Man: Likely the respectable fourth place to the three above, while I can’t quite sing its praises in quite the same way when it’s playing so hard-to-get that I can’t quite put a pin in what it’s ultimately about, oh my GOD this is as good as gut-punch horror gets. Not simply grody shock-value stuff, but pit-of-your-stomach-everything-in-the-world-hates-you-and-you-were-wrong-to-ever-believe-in-love shit that’ll rattle your bones and fuck you up good. Not usually a horror guy myself, but this is an essentially perfect comic.

The Man Of Steel: Screw all y’all, this kicked ass and after how hard the Rebirth books blew it - Jon and the new status quo were both excellent, Tomasi had good bits here and there alongside some quality fill-in teams, but those books were still aaaaaaaaaaassssss - this is exactly the fresh start Superman’s needed for years. Granted the Fabok interstitials had some wonky pacing, but this was on-point and insightful for Superman as a character, exciting as hell, and has thus far led to nothing but more good comics as far as I’m concerned.

Milk Wars: Did the various tie-ins live up to the bookends? Nah, though the Shade/Wonder Woman story was pretty good. But those bookends? Friends, those books were AAA+ sup-per-he-ro-bull-SHIT, and while I was initially let down because it seemed as though it would have Superman in a major role and then didn’t, this is even more of an apotheosis of the Morrison approach to the genre than Metal. ACO is ACO, Eaglesham slaughtered it, and Orlando and Way should be as joined at the hip as cowriters as Abbnett and Lanning used to be. This is a gold standard for strange, edgy, colorful, wondrous, fucked-up superhero comics, and there should be a million more like it every day.

Justice League (by Christopher Priest and assorted artists, primarily Pete Woods): On the exact opposite end of the scale, while I don’t think I can say I enjoyed this book as much as the current Snyder-helmed gonzo cosmic adventures, I absolutely feel this was the better of the two. More importantly, this run is the successful version of what just about every other Justice League comic of the past 15 years has been trying and failing to be as the post-Authority, post-Ultimates, post-Civil War take on the concept. It’s as smart and atmospheric and bold as a book like Justice League ever CAN be, building its exploration of the conceptual stress points of the team around one and two-part adventures and clever character dynamics, illustrating an interesting new take on how to handle the main team book with the power players: taking their ability to handle physical threats as a relative given, a structural conceit acting as a delivery mechanism for the politics and people in play. It hardly breaks new ground in terms of redefining the superhero concept, but it’s as far as they’ve gone with the marquis characters without ending in disaster, and it’s an approach I’d love to see more often applied to this scale.

Superman: Walmart 100 Page Giant (by Tom King and Andy Kubert): Of all the places for King to do a regular Superman comic, huh? Still, we’d already seen what he’d done in that Batman two-parter and Action #1000, so I’m more than willing to take what we can get (even if most are going to have to wait for this to come out in trade). There have been four installments so far: the first is the sort of stage-setting that’s common to this type of long-form arc but with a distinctly different atmosphere than how this is typically done with the character, evoking a sort of Miller-tinged Golden Age flavor connecting Superman back down to Earth before throwing him into the stars. The third is a great Fuck Yeah Superman Doin’ Superman Shit throwdown that gives Kubert a chance to shine. The fourth and most recent is haunting, inspired, moving, and tight as a drum. And the second begins as the worst-case scenario of Tom King doing a Superman comic, and ends as likely my favorite Superman story of the last 5 years. If it continues in its current direction, Superman: Up In The Sky is almost certainly going to be a perennial people are going to rank among the best Superman stories of all time for decades to come, and everything I’d want out of this team tackling my favorite character.

Detective Comics (by James Tynion IV and assorted artists): I’m honestly surprised at myself for putting this here, but I just have to hand it to this run - which had to go quite a ways to win me over, between its opening gambit with Batwoman’s status quo and centering the whole thing around my least-favorite Robin (even if it won me over to him over time) - as basically being the platonic form of Dang Good Superhero Comics. Not boundary-pushing, not the sort of thing you’ll remember in 20 years, but just really fun, exciting, good-looking, slick, character-driven adventures building on themselves into the logical culmination of 21st century popular Batman stories. This is Batman 101, but in a good way, and I honestly think that on reflection it’s gonna hold together better as a Batman run than its immediate predecessor in Snyder/Capullo.

You Are Deadpool: This is the smartest, funniest, most inventive big two comic of the year and even if you’re so tired of Deadpool that your skull bones are threatening to suddenly contract and spear your brain in an attempt at saving your weary soul from the prospect of seeing any more of him, you should get this.

Superman (by Brian Bendis and Ivan Reis): I noted Action Comics among the honorable mentions, as while it’s a dang good comic that I enjoy a great deal - and Ryan Sook may well have established himself as my ideal modern Superman artist - it’s very much the best possible version of *exactly* what you’d expect from Brian Bendis doing Superman. This, on the other hand, feels like Bendis stretching himself to do something truly different in a way he hasn’t in years, and the results are stunning. I won’t pretend Rogol Zaar has amounted to much of anything as of yet, but Bendis has acclimated to the realm of Cosmic Superman Punch-Ups in a way no one could have reasonably seen coming; he’s managed to sidestep his usual issues by anchoring each issue in a crazy setpiece and a single perfect Superman character moment, and Reis is doing work here than can unquestionably stand alongside his Sinestro Corps War heyday. Whether it’s #1 having Superman fight an astro-goilla in the middle of a questioning on his responsibilities to humanity, #4 going full Shonen in the best possible way with probably my favorite fight scene of the year, or #6′s storybook mythmaking building to the best, cruelest needle in the balloon possible, or the consistent delightful fucking with Adam Strange, every issue here has something I didn’t know I badly wanted to see, and damn if that isn’t exactly what I want in my Superman stuff.

Assorted one-offs: Along with the major arcs and runs, we’ve got stuff like the Thanos Annual and DC Nuclear Winter Special, as good as anthologies of this kind get. T-shirt Superman got one last ride under Morrison in the Sideways Annual, fighting his way out from under the wreckage of a weird DiDio book to get exactly the sendoff he deserved. The Injustice 2 Annual, of all things, was a perfect piece of bittersweet character work. Invincible #144 satisfyingly closed out The Best Superhero Comic In The Universe by essentially also doing Invincible #145-500 or so, putting this often tumultuous title to bed with the dignity it had earned. And finally, Slott and Marcos Martin’s The Amazing Spider-Man #801 was a perfect minor mediation not even on the title character so much as the basic moral appeal of the genre as a whole.

#Comics #DC Comics #Marvel #Image #Opinion

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pickalilywrites · 6 years ago

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For me, I would have picked Levi to be Spiderman, only because of his ODM gear skills. He moves to quick and fast like Spiderman when flying. And, since you know more DC than Marvel; which characters do you see them as?

oh right! i think that’s actually a reason why i chose jean for spiderman b/c he’s also got talent w/ ODM. levi would be pretty cool as spiderman altho the thought of him in a bright red + blue suit makes me laugh. i just try not to think about it too much tho b/c i would probably make petra gwen stacy and it would make me cryyy

if it’s DC, then obviously Levi is batman and the 104th are all the batkid/orphans he adopts along the way (jk) umm:

levi: i want 2 say batman b/c he fits the aesthetic so much but the idea of him being constantine just…i love it so much!!!

eld: green lantern!!! special ring that the wearer must bear a great responsibility but still has good sense of humor sounds like eld 2 me !!!

petra: i like the idea of her being starfire b/c both of them have bright personalities but also petra as oracle to provide support b/c that’s kind of her thing too???

auruo: elongated man for his powers but also b/c his character is always kind of funny. not the flash version tho (at least not in the beginning) b/c he was kind of grody sometimes :/

gunter: hawkman b/c i like how authoritative and serious he is which is how i kind of see gunter 2

mikasa: i have an au where mikasa is wonder woman b/c the 2018 film version suits her so well but katana makes sense to me as well b/c of mikasa’s skill w/ blades. raven fits her well too i think.

eren: one of the angstier robins. probably more jason todd than damian wayne but even that doesn’t feel 100% to me??

armin: barry allen flash b/c of how dorky and sweet grant gustin portrays him in the flash but i stopped watching b/c barry could be annoying to me personality wise and ability wise he could fit tim drake robin 2 tho?

jean: …i want to say wally west flash but that sounds boring but like he’s chillier and cheekier and that suits jean i think

sasha: if we’re doing by ability it’d probably be green arrow but i keep thinking how hiliarious it would be if she were zatanna and just annoying jean w/ typical magic tricks oh but she reminds me of stephanie brown sometimes

connie: beast boy!!!! i don’t have to explain more he’s perfect for him.

historia: i’m in love w/ the idea of her as terra even tho i wasn’t 2 fond of the character but like secret princess origin? yes

ty for this xoxo it still makes me sad that they took justice league/justice league unlimited off of netflix ;~;

#asks #answered #anon #anonymous #lily's open asks

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Aldis Hodge Says Playing Hawkman in Black Adam is Still a Responsibility for Representation

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Warner’s DC Extended Universe films continues navigating an unconventional era, having premiered Wonder Woman 1984 as a day-and-date HBO Max streaming exclusive (until Jan. 24) in lieu of a prospectively profitable wide theatrical release. However, a grandiose return to theaters is eyed to start in 2022 with a barrage of DCEU movies, which will eventually yield the Dwayne Johnson-starring Black Adam. Auspiciously, that film will also debut the DCEU’s version of winged hero Hawkman, as played by Aldis Hodge, who comes into the role with extensive comic book research and the weight of being a black superhero on the big screen.

For the acclaimed actor, Hodge, whose casting as Hawkman was reported this past September, the role will finally yield a long-sought chance to play a major superhero, and he’s clearly excited to rock the signature wings. Yet, while Hodge has been showing visceral joy over this appearance for director Jaume Collet-Serra’s cold-intro Shazam spinoff, Black Adam, his awareness of the ongoing responsibility that a black actor must bear when fielding such a culturally influential role is made quite clear in an interview with Geeks of Color.

“I think about the representation aspect of that, because I didn’t grow up watching superheroes that look like me.” He explains, “I remember in my early-teens maybe we came into [African-American heroes] Spawn and Blade, and that was awesome. So, to know that young kids are going to be able to see that and see opportunity, and have an awareness that I didn’t have at a young age about what they can accomplish, that really is fantastic.”

The topic of representation has obviously been prevalent in the widespread comic book movie conversation for some time now, and Hodge is certainly not saying anything out of left field regarding the responsibilities attached to his Hawkman role. Yet, it comes in the aftermath of what was arguably the most poignant representation character, Marvel’s Black Panther, as played by the late, great Chadwick Boseman. After a debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, the character’s solo debut in director Ryan Coogler’s 2018 Black Panther movie became a global cultural milestone. Besides being a $1.347 billion worldwide smash, the film redefined the uplifting representation of black actors; an accomplishment attributed not only to Boseman’s performance, but supporting players like Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia and, of course, Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of tragic villain Killmonger.

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Black Adam Powers and Abilities Explained

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By Joseph Baxter

Ironically enough, the financial success and zeitgeist-dominating nature of Black Panther might mitigate the immediacy of the aforementioned representation conversation, leading to a belief that the proverbial pump for the “grand responsibility” to which Hodge refers has already been properly primed. However, Hodge clearly does not want to fall into a state of complacency, stating of the positive influence he intends to bring to children, “That’s the greater goal of this, so it’s a grand responsibility—still a responsibility—and I’m gonna take care of it. But, I’m very grateful, very excited. “

Indeed, Hodge’s landing of the Hawkman role is the fulfillment of a superhero wish that he’s publicly voiced going back to at least 2012, the era of Marvel’s first megamovie, The Avengers, during which Hodge embraced widespread dream-casting by the fandom calling for him to play Black Panther. Interestingly, said fandom started to toss his name back into the mix for said role upon Boseman’s passing last year—a notion that seemed especially feasible even after he landed Hawkman, since the pandemic derailed Black Adam’s production plans, which resulted in Warner pulling the film from its previously slated December 2021 premiere. That development left the film without a release date, even as Marvel’s untitled Black Panther 2 still holds firm for Jul. 8, 2022, despite a recent announcement indicating that Boseman’s vacant starring role as T’Challa will not be recast. Consequently, make no mistake about it, Hodge is firmly in Hawkman mode.

In describing the call he received upon landing the Hawkman role, Hodge—a self-confessed “geek” who grew up on graphic novels—enthusiastically recalls, “That call was just insane.” Further explaining of his current progress, he exclaims, “Research is done! Research been done! At this point, research is now just eating as much as I can to put on the weight.” While public details on the long-gestating Black Adam remain scant, leaving very little wiggle room to go into the film’s plot or setting, Hodge did provide what could prove to be a crucial tease about his performance, describing of the character, “He’s not just the average regular superhero. This is Hawkman, he’s a savage.” It’s certainly an intriguing prospect, especially considering the fantastical, metaphysical and overwhelmingly circuitous backstory iterations attached to the aerial hero throughout the history of DC Comics, going back to his debut in Flash Comics #1, dated Jan. 1940.

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As mentioned, Black Adam remains without a release date, which has been the case ever since one of Warner’s major reshuffles this past October. However, the film is clearly moving forward, and we’ll get to see Dwayne Johnson’s role as the titular antihero Shazam nemesis joined by Hodge’s Hawkman and Noah Centineo’s villain role as Atom Smasher, along with Sarah Shahi, who has been cast for a crucial mystery role as a university professor and freedom fighter leading a resistance in the Egypt-esque fictional DC nation of Kahndaq. In the meantime, you can catch Hodge’s latest role, as football legend Jim Brown, in director Regina King’s quasi-historical ensemble piece, One Night in Miami, on Amazon Prime Video.

The post Aldis Hodge Says Playing Hawkman in Black Adam is Still a Responsibility for Representation appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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overseer2020 · 4 years ago

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A New Day, A New Year

Hello, everybody!

I said yesterday that anyone could pick up the narrative of the creation of my MtG custom set project here, and that will require a quick recap.

“PREVIOUSLY ON: What The Heck Am I Doing With My Life?...”

This whole thing began when I wondered what it would be like if the Justice League were represented by Magic cards. (This was several years ago now. Perhaps 2017 or 2018 I think?) I mocked up a set of five, thinking to include the five most prominent members. Every time they reboot/reimagine/adapt the formation of the Justice League, they tend to use the same five core characters (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, flanked by The Flash and Green Lantern -- sometimes one of those last two gets replaced by one of the characters that usually fill in the #6 and #7 slots if the adaptation requires it. That’s why we have Aquaman and Cyborg instead of GL in the recent movie. For the record, Hawkman, and/or Martian Manhunter are usually part of these 7-character starting rosters with sometimes Zatanna, Hawkgirl and Cyborg being newer, more diverse additions to this pool of characters in recent years. Too many white males spoil the illusion of inclusiveness, I suppose.)

Designing JL members as Magic cards was so much fun that I did the same for the Avengers. Five of them anyway because by then I wanted to represent all ten color pairs. I had to cheat a little on my “reinterpretations” of certain characters, partially because they all wanted to be White and few of them particularly wanted to be Black or Red. I ended up making “Green Lantern” primarily Blue as that is more the color of willpower, control and determination (next to Black) and I expanded my scope to make all ten tri-color creatures.

Then I decided, “Well this is all well and good, but what kind of world would they exist in?” And so I envisioned an environment in which they could reasonably have come to exist (within the narrative confines of Magic: the Gathering).

And so, for now, that’s pretty much all you need to know to understand how the first Part of my MTG megaproject. Crimeworld. came into being.

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hawkgirlz · 1 year ago

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in defense of carter hall (hawkman) part 1

important post i'm making on carter hall because i didn't expect to like this insanely problematic mentally insane man as much as i do now. but after digging through interviews with geoff johns, i have a good picture on what he was achieving with carter.

let's start off with the circumstances surrounding carter's death. in the 90s, there was an event called zero hour. katar hol had merged with carter hall, shiera hall, and a hawk god. here is the death of shiera & carter's commentary:

katar ends up dying at the end of hawkman (1993) as he becomes mentally unstable due to the merge and he's forced into limbo. this leads into jsa (1999) where carter is revived.

now before i continue, here's geoff johns saying he intended for carter to come off as 'bipolar', while the meaning itself is questionable when used here, i think anyone with a brain could easily tell that carter was clearly supposed to come off as not being mentally well at all. even in hawkman (2002), kendra begs for carter to go back to 'normal' to which carter tells her 'this is normal'.

here's another panel that was written by geoff johns, where he compares himself to jean loring. if you know who jean loring is & what her mental conditions were (to the point where she got locked up in arkham asylum in a very bad storyline), you would understand why this is significant for carter. he's admitting that he too is not mentally well.

carter is revived and it's canon that he feels shiera's soul (obviously referring to kendra since she is a reincarnation of her).

it's this panel that particularly makes a lot of people angry. and why? because it's realistic. carter has just been revived from the dead after witnessing his wife, shiera, die in front of his eyes. kendra just found out about her being apart of the reincarnation cycle & her suicide attempt. kendra is YOUNG. it's even retconned now that she's actually been apart of the reincarnation since birth in the current hawkgirl run. meaning she won't be the same age as carter regardless BECAUSE shiera died and she's the one who's usually the same age as carter. she's not going to accept this, and he's clearly going delusional, which lets be serious.... you're lying if you're telling me you wouldn't do the same in his exact situation.

honestly, it's just really a bizarre panel to be mad at because at that point, you just want your comics to be fluffy watered down domestic fanfics with no real or interesting emotions. this takes place immediately after he's revived, so he clearly won't be well in this stage at all. it gets taken so out of context because people lack basic media literacy & look for the most problematic thing while ignoring the problematic moments their favs have too. and it's also one of my biggest cons with hawkman 2018 because while i love it lore wise.... he doesn't really have much personality.

anyways, here's kendra admitting that she does find carter attractive but she needs space. now again... the context is that kendra found out the true circumstances regarding her reincarnation of shiera. JUST found out. of course she'd want space which again, gets brushed over a lot. kendra doesn't know who she is. what she's feeling is normal. also carter's way older than her like lmao (now if i were to bring up problematic age gaps in comics, we'd be here all day so don't bother)

another thing to say is that the 'stalker' thing only happened in ONE issue. ONE comic issue. it wasn't an arc and wildcat was even encouraging him to 'chase' kendra. the only specific parts that were an 'arc' were carter seeing kendra kissing sandy and the aftermath of that which again... jealousy is a totally realistic emotion. but it's been taken so out of context due to the dcau making it way worse & completely erasing the actual context that you'd think him being a stalker would be the entire crux of his character or something. in this exact issue, carter says that what he's doing is WRONG and he needs to accept her for who she is.

#carter hall #hawkman #kendra saunders #hawkgirl #shiera hall #shiera sanders #dcu #dcau #justice league unlimited #anti dcau #shayera hol #dc #dc comics

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hermanwatts · 5 years ago

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Sensor Sweep: Conan Companion, Star Trek, Necromancers, Stanley Mullen

New Release (Amazon): By Crom! At long last the definitive history of Conan the Barbarian paperbacks that fans have clamoured for. 107 pages with detailed chapters devoted to each of the mighty Cimmerian’s publishers. Heavily illustrated with many rare images. Plus complete cover galleries of every US and UK Conan title ever issued. In full colour. An indispensable aid to Conan collectors and completists everywhere. Featuring a specially written foreword by Conan comics legend Roy Thomas!

Star Trek (Huffington Post): The LA Times recently ran a story about the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit, which contained a mind-boggling statistic: of the more than 100 offenders the unit has arrested over the last four years, “all but one” has been “a hard-core Trekkie.” Blogger Ernest Miller thought this claim was improbable. “I could go to a science fiction convention,” he explained “and be less likely to find that 99+ percent of the attendees were hard-core Trekkies.” While there may be quibbling about the exact numbers, the Toronto detectives claim that the connection is undeniable.

Review (Brain Leakage): That said, if you are looking for a great post-apocalyptic read, I want to draw your attention to the work of Jon Mollison. I read his A Moon Full of Stars recently, with the intent of dedicating a full-length ‘Pocky-clypse Now review to it soon. I do still plan on doing that. But I’m probably going to wait until after our daily news cycle looks a little less like the opening credits to the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake.

Awards (Kairos): … And enjoy a hearty laugh at the incestuous wasteland the once-prestigious Hugo Awards have become.

Predictions that the Hugo field would degenerate into a circle jerk of olpdub purse puppies beloved by editors in New York–and pretty much no one else–have been realized ahead of schedule.

Here’s a partial list of this year’s finalists.

D&D (DMR Books): The Complete Book of Necromancers by Steve Kurtz was released in the spring of 1995, and came and went fairly quickly. Luckily a friend of mine snagged one shortly after it came out. Ostensibly the book was intended for the eyes of Dungeon Masters only, but of course we were hungry to add the new spells and powers to our player characters’ repertoires. Clark Ashton Smith is mentioned by name in the majority of the chapters of Necromancers. While Smith’s absence from Appendix N is conspicuous, Kurtz more than made up for the oversight.

Fiction (Digital Bibliophilia): Any book that opens Page One with a man being skewered by the broken mast of a sailing ship in the middle of a storm has to be good right? Well, I’m happy to say Oath of Blood by Arthur Frazier lives up to its gory opening scene and delivers a fantastic little novel about the clash of the Saxons, Normans and Vikings during the 11th century (1066 to be precise). Arthur Frazier was one of many pen names used by the prolific Kenneth Bulmer.

Gaming (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): Charisma. It’s not just a dump stat, they say. But look, if you don’t have a lot of it, you’re going to be stuck in a career as an assassin. Which is kind of funny, actually. Of course if you were going to actually use that stat in an AD&D game, you’re going to have to flip to the middle of the combat section to find the reaction table. Why is it there right in the middle of sections detailing initiative and missile discharge? Evidently this something pretty important to consider when the players have initiative in a random encounter, right?

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Another writer who has left a huge legacy with little recognition is Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (1911-1986). Fox began his career writing for Batman as early as 1939. (It was Fox who gave Bruce Wayne his “utility belt”.) During his decades long career with DC, he would work on such characters as The Flash, Hawkman and The Justice Society of America. He was there when Julius Schwartz revamped DC comics to meet the new “Comics Code”. He was there when DC invented its Multiverse. Outside of DC, he would pen the first Sword & Sorcery comic called “Crom the Barbarian”.

Fiction (DMR Books): The book being advertised was Kinsmen of the Dragon by Stanley Mullen. I was completely unfamiliar with both the title and the author. A bit of research revealed that this book had never been reprinted since its publication in 1951, which explains why it’s so little-known today. In spite of (or perhaps because of) its obscurity, good condition copies are pricey, usually going for over $50, and signed copies are much more.

Fiction/Gaming Tie-in (Karavansara): Two nights in Arkham: Lovecraft purists often frown at Lovecraft-inspired fiction. The main charge raised by these people is, other writers are either too much like Lovecraft or not at all like him, often at the same time. The second most common accusation is that certain stories are too action-centered and adventure-oriented, filled with guns blazing and chanting cultists. They usually blame Lovecraft’s popularity with the gaming crowd as the main reason for these degenerate pastiches, in which Indiana Jones or Doc Savage seem to exert an influence stronger than Nyarlathotep’s.

Fiction (Mostly Old Books): he Fargo series tell the tales of early 20th Century adventurer and solider of fortune Neal Fargo. They aren’t Westerns as the covers suggest. In this installment Fargo is hired by a rich old blowhard to rescue some Mayan treasures and the excavation team, which includes his son, from the jungles of Central America.

Cinema (The Silver Key): 1917 had been in my “to watch” queue for a long time (aka, floating around in the back of my mind), and last night I watched it with my older daughter, a self-described “film buff” who wanted to see what the hype was all about. Two word review: Excellent film. It’s an intensely personal/soldier’s journey type of story, and also manages to convey the larger tragedy of the Great War.

Fiction (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): The Inklings and the Mythos (Dale Nelson). So, I’ve now recovered the missing issue of MALLORN* containing Dale Nelson’s wide-ranging inquiry into possible connections between the Inklings and Lovecraft’s circle, “The Lovecraft Circle and the Inklings: The ‘Mythopoeic Gift’ of H. P. Lovecraft” (MALLORN 59, Winter 2018, pages 18-32). It’s a substantial piece, and in it Nelson raises such topics as the following: Did the two groups read or were they influenced by each other?

Fiction (Scott Oden): In the past few weeks, my sophomore novel, MEMNON (Medallion Press, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2018), has received a raft of four-and-five star ratings on Goodreads and a pair of excellent reviews — which, for a fourteen-year old novel is no mean feat. Author Matt Larkin, in his review at Amazon, writes: “Evocative prose paints a living picture of the Classical world while the sudden, brutal violence serves to remind us never to look at history through rose-colored glasses.” While Scott Marlowe of Out of this World Reviews praises many things, including the battles: “I can only describe [them] as spectacular and right up there with some of the best battles I’ve had the pleasure to read in historical fiction (think Bernard Cornwell, surely one of the best of them all). Memnon gives Alexander such grief I imagine Alexander remembered their contests right up until his dying days.”

Fiction (Tentaculii): Lovecraft’s famous survey of supernatural literature was published in The Recluse in August 1927. Later in the same year Eino Railo published the history of the literary gothic in The Haunted Castle: A Study of the Elements of English Romanticism. A December 1927 review in the New York Evening Post suggests Railo’s book was published in time for the Christmas market and the January book-token crowd, and thus it appeared several months after Lovecraft’s circle had finished digesting his Supernatural Literature. Lovecraft refers to The Haunted Castle, a translation from the Finnish, in admiring terms in a later letter to Barlow and terms it a study of “the weird”.

History (Men of the West): Suddenly the war became fun. It became exciting, carnivalesque, tremendous. It became victorious and even safe. We awoke on the morning of Sunday, the 30th of July, with the feeling that the war was won — in spirit, if not in fact. Patton and the Third Army were away. At the 8th Corps, which held the western sector of the Normandy front, the G2 colonel said: “We’ve lost contact with the enemy.”

Fiction (Tentaculii): The second half of a forthcoming book, No Ghosts Need Apply: Gothic influences in criminal science, the detective and Doyle’s Holmesian Canon (October 2020), attempts to make the case that there are gothic traces in what are often assumed to be the ‘rationalist’ Sherlock Holmes stories. Sifting the extensive blurb for the book, one can eventually determine that the author suggests the following specific points… * intrigue and secret societies. . .

Fiction (M Porcius Blog): Let’s check out four stories by Mickey Spillane’s all-time favorite author, Fredric Brown, that first appeared in beautiful pulp magazines in 1942 and 1943, magazines that you can read at the universally beloved internet archive for free. “Etaoin Shrdlu” made its debut in Unknown Worlds in 1942. The cover of Unknown may be boring, but the interior illustrations are quite fine, those by Frank Kramer for L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Undesired Princess” in particular.

Sensor Sweep: Conan Companion, Star Trek, Necromancers, Stanley Mullen published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 10 December 2018

Quick Bits:

Astonisher #13 adds Ryan O’Sullivan to the writer’s chair alongside Priest as this arc takes an interesting turn. The idea of the red parasite that’s been haranguing the planet since the first issue being fractured and confused pretty much turns the first twelve issues upside down if it’s indeed true. Great art from Al Barrionuevo, Rodney Ramos, Matt Banning, and Jamie Grant.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Avengers #11 takes a very different approach than the first ten issues or so as Jason Aaron throws more plot developments at us than Ursus Major hurls insults. It’s interesting as it works through the building problems with the US government, attempts at building a coalition of nations assisting the Avengers, Thor and Jennifer Walters’ date, and the surprise heel turn of a once deceased SHIELD agent. All with wonderful art from Ed McGuinness, Cory Smith, Mark Morales, Scott Hanna, Karl Kesel, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Batman Annual #3 features a very sweet story from Tom Taylor, Otto Schmidt, and Troy Peteri that focuses on Alfred and all that he sacrifices and takes on himself in order to ensure Bruce can continue in his chosen vocation. The art from Schmidt is perfect and the heart and soul, complete with some very nice humour, that Taylor instills in the dialogue and narration are a very welcome change of pace from some of the grim and gritty takes on Batman. I think we need more Batman stories like this.

| Published by DC Comics

The Batman Who Laughs #1 is an interesting counterpoint to the Batman Annual, with a tale of body trafficking, alternate Batmen, and death from Scott Snyder, Jock, David Baron, and Sal Cipriano. It’s dour, bleak, and even more violent, even with corny insurance jokes. I can’t say it’s bad, though, the mystery is interesting, the art is wonderful, and there’s one hell of a cliffhanger, but it is dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Bitter Root #2 features some amazing artwork from Sanford Greene and Rico Renzi. The designs for the monsters, Jinoo or otherwise, are amazing and the feel of the colours, purples and greens, just bathe the story in an otherworldly glow.

| Published by Image

Black Panther #7 begins Book 2, “The Gathering of My Name”, with Kev Walker and Stéphane Paitreau joining Ta-Nehisi Coates and Joe Sabino to provide the art for this story. It’s a little more focused than the first arc, delivering a solid plan for the rebels to reclaim their identities.

| Published by Marvel

Captain Ginger #2 keeps things purring along as the Captain and Ramscoop leave off to follow a signal that they hope will bring them to another ship of cats. Then everything goes to hell aboard the mothership. Love the artwork from June Brigham, Roy Richardson, and Veronica Gandini. There’s also the usual prose pieces and a Hashtag: Danger back-up comic to round out the issue. “Company Policy Regarding Eel” from Mark Russell with a spot illustration from Ryan Kelly is particularly humorous.

| Published by Ahoy

Champions #27 concludes the Weirdworld arc and this volume of the series with the power of friendship. It’s actually a pretty good character arc for the former Nova and some neat stuff you wouldn’t necessarily have expected from Viv. Amazing art and designs from Max Dunbar and Nolan Woodard.

| Published by Marvel

Daughters of the Dragon #2 continues this digital original with a slightly different approach from the others, presenting an overarching story, but within that Jed MacKay is breaking it down into discrete two-part arcs. It works fairly well, giving some very entertaining action stories. The art for these two parts is handled by Joey Vasquez, Craig Yeung, Rain Beredo, and Jordan Gibson and it looks pretty good. There’s some really nice composition in the final confrontation.

| Published by Marvel

Dead Kings #2 is not quite as immediately bleak as Crude was, but it’s pretty close, with Steve Orlando revisiting some similar themes of regret and responsibility in Russia here. This is obviously more fantastical, blending fable and technology in a post-apocalyptic Thrice-Nine, with wonderfully dark art from Matthew Dow Smith and Lauren Affe to bring life to this slowly dying world.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #994 begins “Mythology” from the new creative team of Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron, and Rob Leigh and it’s pretty damn good. It feels great to actually see some detective work in Detective Comics and the mystery of why someone would go to the lengths to stage a pair of murder victims to look like Bruce’s parents is intriguing. The art from Mahnke, Mendoza, and Baron is also wonderful. Mahnke’s style is actually fairly restrained here compared to what I’ve been used to, which when combined with this particular blue from Baron, reminds me more of the Batman of yesteryear and the works of Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Marshall Rogers.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Strange: The Best Defense #1 continues this very interesting crossover event. Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood, and Cory Petit deliver a wonderful “Old Sorcerer Stephen” or “Doctor Strange: The End” type tale with Strange being almost the sole wanderer in a world where Dormammu and his spawn have conquered the Earth. It’s bleak, horrifying, and beautifully illustrated by Smallwood. It’s also interesting in how it ultimately dovetails the rest of the event. Although it definitely can be enjoyed on its own, this one gives a couple answers to the broader picture of what’s going on.

| Published by Marvel

Dragon Age: Deception #3 concludes with everyone hating everyone else, more or less, and an interesting revelation about the Magister everyone was so incensed about meeting, killing, and/or stealing from. Interesting new developments regarding the Qunari incursion of Tevinter as well. Great art from Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Michael Atiyeh.

| Published by Dark Horse

Electric Warriors #2 gets into the battles between warriors and the mechanics of those battles, what transfers to whom depending on challenge, as an alternate to war. It’s interesting enough on the surface, but Steve Orlando definitely seems to be building something bigger. Great art again from Travel Foreman and Hi-Fi. The designs for the characters are truly amazing.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #2 pushes the insanity caused by the disease even further. I’m not sure what’s more horrifying, the actions caused by the effects of the disease or the cult popping up around it. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are delivering a fairly visceral, thoroughly brutal, horror tale here.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Fearscape #3 endeavours to make you hate the series protagonist, Henry Henry, even more than you already probably do with heinous act after heinous act. It is incredible as to how thoroughly unlikable Ryan O’Sullivan has managed to make him that at this point you kind of just want to see him torn apart by pedantic, pretentious literary critics literally.

| Published by Vault

The Flash #60 gives us more details on Fuerza, the new Strength Force user, and her plight against a corrupt police force in Corto Maltese. Joshua Williamson is definitely making these new characters interestingly complicated while Flash tries to understand the new forces. Great art from Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #7 brings Hawkman a new origin, and a new reason for being, from Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft. This new origin nicely builds on Hawkman’s complicated legacy, not invalidating anything, but enhancing why he keeps being reborn in different places, different eras, and gives him a purpose that’s often been lacking in some of his reboots. Great work.

| Published by DC Comics

Hellboy Winter Special 2018 has a trio of tales, each of them spotlighting a different era. The first is a wonderful traditional Hellboy short from Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck, and Dave Stewart of a seance gone horribly wrong as they also seem to. The second builds on the vampire mythology from the BPRD: 1946-1948 series amidst superstitious villagers fearing for their crops from Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, and Dave Stewart. And finally a Lobster Johnson tale from Tonči Zonjić of criminals trying to pass off their handiwork as the Claw of Justice. All three stories are very well done, gorgeous art all throughout.

| Published by Dark Horse

Infinite Dark #3 reveals the plans, more or less, that Alvin and Kirin put in place to destroy the station. It’s terrifying, and its source possibly more so. It does kind of make me wonder why people are being driven mad at its reality, though.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #2 concludes this mini, the last of the Infinity Warps. Absolutely stunning artwork from Jefte Palo and Jim Campbell.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Dark #6 concludes the Myrra arc as James Tynion IV waxes philosophically through Bobo and Diana about guilt and responsibility, even as the nightmares at the gate get even closer elsewhere. The art from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas is really damn good.

| Published by DC Comics

Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #1 features some very impressive art from Harvey Tolibao, Joana Lafuente, and Tristan Jurolan. Nice detail, character designs, and beautiful colours.

| Published by IDW

The Magic Order #5 delivers one hell of a twist in this penultimate chapter. Also, very inventive methods of torture. Drop dead gorgeous artwork from Olivier Coipel and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is a great debut from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. This first issue mainly gets us back up to speed on Miles’ life and supporting cast, introducing and reintroducing the characters and his connections, largely giving narration through his journal, integrating an exercise from his classes to convey the narrative. We get a robbery and a confrontation with the Rhino that sets up the hook for a larger plot and mystery. The art from Garrón and Curiel is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #10 is insane. Another bit of Philadelphia has been popped off into Oblivion by the less stable of the Cole brothers and this issue is the resulting chaos. I’m still very impressed with how Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Annalisa Leoni, and Rus Wooton are constantly throwing this book into upheaval, with practically every issue giving a new revelation or upending the status quo. This is just great.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Outer Darkness #2 follows up an entertaining first issue with an outstanding second issue, introducing us to much of the crew and more explicitly the types of horrors that they’re going to encounter in space. John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau have something fairly unique here, with the humour just putting it over the top.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #313 brings this battle with Morlun to an end and with it this series. It’s been a decent tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Sean Ryan, Juan Frigeri, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham, but it is basically a three issue fight scene designed to keep Peter away from the main plot of the event.

| Published by Marvel

Red Sonja Holiday Special has a fairly entertaining lead story of Sonja learning about Christmas and then becoming embroiled in some weird witness shakedown from Amy Chu, Erik Burnham, Ricardo Jamie, Omi Remalante Jr., and Taylor Esposito. There’s also a classic reprint story from Roy Thomas, Frank Thorne, and Mike Kelleher.

| Published by Dynamite

Redlands #9 continues this arc’s structure of beginning with a flashback, this time giving us a hint of what Casper did before he was indentured to the sisters. This one’s a little light on pushing the narrative ahead very far, but very high on building more atmosphere, and developing a potential new problem for Laurent.

| Published by Image

Shadowman #10 has some really great art from Renato Guedes, Eric Battle, and Ulises Arreola. The trade off of sequences for Jack’s confrontation with Sandria Darque and then the flashbacks between Guedes and Battle is very nice, giving a unique feel to both.

| Published by Valiant

Silver Surfer: The Best Defense #1 has some oblique ties to the rest of “The Best Defense” crossover, mentioning whatever this “train” is, but like the others of these first four parts features a largely independent character study. Jason Latour and Clayton Cowles present a twist on a traditional Silver Surfer morality tale by making it a game between the Surfer and Galactus. Beautifully illustrated, tapping into some of the weirdness of Marvel’s cosmic.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3 has Gwen and MJ work out where the Green Goblin’s hideout is with the assistance of this world’s Glory and Betty. This has been an interesting first arc and tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Seanan McGuire, Rosi Kämpe, Ian Herring, and Clayton Cowles.

| Published by Marvel

Star Trek: Waypoint Special #1 is more than worth it just for “My Human is Not” by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Sonny Liew, and Neil Uyetake. It’s an adorable story from the point of view of Spot, beautifully illustrated by Liew. The other three stories in this special also aren’t too shabby, but you’ll want to buy this one for the tabby.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Darth Maul #1 continues this series of one-shots with a spotlight on everyone’s favourite horny Sith Lord from Jody Houser, Luke Ross, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. The art from Ross and Tartaglia is wonderful. The layouts for many of the action sequences are particularly impressive, knocking things off-kilter to evoke the kind of chaotic fighting style of Maul.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #25 goes home to Krypton in the lead story from Marc Andreyko, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Lan Medina, Sean Parsons, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano. It takes Kara’s quest into another different direction, adding another possible impediment in finding everyone and everything that aided in the destruction of Krypton. There are also a couple of back-ups, one fleshing out Dr. Z’ndr Kol and the other a sweet Christmas story.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #6 has some absolutely stunning spreads from Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair. The battle between Rogol Zaar and Superman & Zod is incredible, probably some of the best pages I’ve ever seen from Reis. The narration by Superman from Brian Michael Bendis is also interesting as he waxes philosophical about his speed and fighting side by side with Zod. What is less magical is the ending. Superman leaving Zod, even with pressing concerns elsewhere, feels wrong. I don’t know if it’s intentionally a bad decision on Superman’s part that will be addressed, or if it’s just a bad decision from Bendis. It just doesn’t feel like what Superman would do. Otherwise, this is a pretty great issue.

| Published by DC Comics

Titans #31 adds Kyle Rayner to the team as Donna Troy officially takes the lead and a number of the simmering sub-plots converge to kick off a new adventure. Great art from Clayton Henry, Brent Peeples, Dexter Vines, and Marcelo Maiolo.

| Published by DC Comics

Vampirella vs. Reanimator #1 is a damn good start to this mini from Cullen Bunn, Blacky Shepherd, and Taylor Esposito. The art from Shepherd is very impressive. I love the choice to present the story almost entirely in grey tones with spot colours for red and a little bit of sickly yellow, it really makes the art stand out.

| Published by Dynamite

William Gibson’s Alien 3 #2 continues this excellent adaptation of Gibson’s unproduced screenplay by Johnnie Christmas, Tamra Bonvillain, and Nate Piekos. The political aspect and veritable cold war are very interesting additions to the Alien lore.

| Published by Dark Horse

Wonder Woman #60 turns the screw a bit with some unexpected developments for Ares. I’m really liking the art from Cary Nord, Mick Gray, and Romulo Fajardo Jr. While definitely partially the influence of Gray’s inking, Nord’s presenting a somewhat looser, more angular style that reminds me a bit of Frank Miller and Phil Hester which really works for the chaotic and bellicose story.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Accell #16, Amazing Spider-Man #11, Animosity: Evolution #9, Asgardians of the Galaxy #4, Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #2, Battlestar Galactica Classic #2, Birthright #34, Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, The Black Order #2, By Night #6, Cemetery Beach #4, DuckTales #14, Elephantmen 2261 Holiday Special, Fantastic Four Wedding Special #1, From Hell Master Edition #2, Giant Days #45, Go Go Power Rangers #15, God of War #2, Goddess Mode #1, Head Lopper #10, Hit-Girl #11, House of Whispers #4, James Bond: Origin #4, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #4, The Lone Ranger #3, Mage: The Hero Denied #14, Murder Falcon #3, New Talent Showcase 2018 #1, Patience! Conviction! Revenge! #4, Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age #1, The Quantum Age #5, Red Sonja/Tarzan #6, Rose #15, Sasquatch Detective #1, Sleepless #10, Smooth Criminals #2, Spider-Force #3, Spider-Girls #3, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #27, Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #1, TMNT: Macro-Series #4: Raphael, Typhoid Fever: Iron Fist #1, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #39, The Unstoppable Wasp #3, Vampironica #5, War Bears #3, The Wasted Space Holiday Special #1

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 9, Black Crown Omnibus - Volume 1, Blackwood, Britannia - Volume 3: Lost Eagles of Rome, Cloak and Dagger: Shades of Grey, Curse of Brimstone - Volume 1: Inferno, Fear Agent: Final Edition - Volume 4, Giant Days: Early Registration, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 2, Hillbilly - Volume 3, Ice Cream Man - Volume 2: Strange Neapolitan, Judge Dredd: Under Siege, Scarlet - Book 2, Star Wars - Volume 9: Hope Dies

d. emerson eddy would like to take a moment to finally admit...”I’m Batman”.

#This Week in Comics

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thelongestdamnreviews · 6 years ago

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Tactics Ogre: One Vision (mod)

As far as I know, One Vision is the only mod for the PSP version of Tactics Ogre. The intent behind the mod was to balance things, make the OP things less so, change things around, make the game different but not change it at its core. This review covers v0.91a, the latest version available when I started playing again. There's now a v0.92 available as of August 15 2018, so that's worth consideration. Download is available here.

The first biggest change is that characters in battle no longer get 0.1 added to all stats when the class they're in levels up. Instead, classes confer a percentage of given stats at each level regardless of their taking the field or not. So if you have a character class change to a Lv20 Dragoon, they would have comparable stats to one who was a Dragoon from level one.

A screenshot of the patchnotes, but this is still a good guide to follow.

Hired generics also are set to randomly be set under four different base stat distributions, for frontline fighters with lots of STR and VIT, archers with lots of DEX and AGI, mages with lots of INT and MND, and all-rounders. You have to look at the blue bars on the hiring screen to tell what archetype they fit into, and they change each time you enter the screen too.

Magic changed substantially too. You're no longer able to use grimoires during battle, so you can't have your Warrior throw out Exorcisms when your Cleric is busy. If you want magic, you actually need to field people that naturally use it instead of stocking up on one-shot spells. Instill spells are now learnable Skills that cost TP and quite often I'd get an Instill off after moving and attacking someone instead of sacrificing my attack to power up. Elemental magic now inflicts Averse of the opposite element so it's possible to set up elemental volleyball combos with two mages. Reagents are no longer used and use MP/TP/sometimes HP to fuel them instead, though the buffing Ninjitsu still requires them plus a pittance of TP.

Healing got buffed. It now scales slightly with MND but it also heals a percentage of the target's maxHP as a secondary effect, but this won't happen when using heals to hurt the undead. This makes enemy Clerics straight goddamned bats because they can and will undo a lot of the damage you're dealing to the enemy leader and several fights field one or two in the very back. Enemies still have a ton of HP so enemy healers are priority one...or you can trick their AI and beat the crap out of another enemy in range so they heal that one instead. I seriously exploited this several times since rushing Hawkmen to deal with them was potentially fatal for my guys. Knights lost the ability to heal too so thankfully all of the enemy leader Knights won't tank and heal all the hurt you'll bring.

Oh, and resurrect magic no longer exists as far as I found. You can save someone from death with two new items, the Lifeline Gem that Shiftstones them from the field (but never to return), or the Lifeline Gem that revives the ally and restores their HP, but removes the user instead so you're still permanently down one ally for that fight.

Magic availability got shuffled around too. Wizards and Spellblades get access to missile spells, but Warlocks can only use indirect magic. Draconic Magic now uses the caster's weapon power in the damage formula and I often had it dealing the most damage between plain elemental magic and using the weapon normally.

Items got the biggest change. Gear is now normalized and every class of weapon or armor now does the same thing with higher tiers having better stats. So 2H Swords all deal damage with a chance to inflict Stagger, and they give a bonus to AGIL, so late-game ones would do more damage and give more bonus stats--weight and RT stay consistent. Armor is split between cloth/caster, light, and heavy. Light armors boost evasion, while heavy armors boost HP and VIT for soaking up damage. Ranged weapons have much higher RT values across the board, to make up for their users not moving as often as your frontliners.

The Cutlass, Khora, and Damasc Sword are all the same weapon, but their stats are different. I didn’t mess with crafted weapons but I imagine they break the ‘same thing, better stats’ pattern.

Crafting got overhauled, so instead of getting +1 gear that's clearly better than the original, you get sidegrades. 2H Sword sidegrades are heavier and more damaging, but come with an AGIL penalty, Hammers have a high change to knock a target back, Cudgels trade caster bonuses for bonuses fighters would enjoy, Fists damage the target's MP as well as HP, and so on. Armor is a bit different, such as light armor getting a slightly heavier and more protective version to heavy armor getting even heavier and tanky. Some caster armor is different, like the standard Wizard Hat's sidegrade having a sharp RES penalty but innate Absorb MP. Crafting also doesn't require anywhere near the dumb number of steps like the original game--Wootz Steel for example can be done in one step and crafting is intended to be 100% successful (but it wasn’t in the early chapters for me, so possibly a bug) too.

Purified Ore isn’t very cheap, but it beats repetitive stress injury.

And of course Skills got changed around quite a bit. Fortify, Strengthen, and the other +stat skills are entirely gone (though enemies currently have dummied-out versions applied), Instills are skills as said above, skills that level up by use do so much faster now (I got Steal up to 2 before the end of the game, even), racial skills are now changed around so you can't stick Anatomy on everyone now (so demihumans have a use for your team), and activateable skills were either changed in function or swapped around between classes. Some skills like Bash or Counterhit or Field Alchemy had entire tiers removed, so Bash/Counter start at 50% and Field Alchemy I grants you use of most items instead of slowly unlocking them through the four tiers. Status Effect resist skills are gone and -Proofs unlock much earlier, and they allow you to cast a 'free' single-target cleanse against that type too. You'll generally have more SP than normal since you're not dumping them into +stat skills.

Finishers were balanced and Brimstone Hail is no longer the be-all end-all it was in the original. Each one inflicts a status effect or hits twice, and accuracy or damage is determined by current TP.

And there's a bunch of other small mechanical changes like changes to RT, cost, range, area of effect, and so on. Many things have new names now too.

Some character sprites were changed. Catiua now wears blue pants, Vyce has a red coat on Chaos/Neutral, Folcurt has a new sprite, Sara and Donalto have different portraits and have permanent sprites like unique characters, Tamuz was made into an interesting hybrid Hawkman that has access to Orc classes and he ended up being a pivotal part of my team as a Juggernaut. Templar Knights were given distinctive colors so you could see at a glance what they were capable of--red Templars were either Wizards or Warlocks so could cast magic, green were Archers or Fusiliers, so they could snipe you, blue with a black collar was Cleric so kill them first, etc. Given how many you have to go through in the last part of the game, having this kind of information is extremely helpful so you don't need to keep checking all of the identical mooks to see who's dangerous and who is easy pickings.

Please brain enemies with your giant hammer, flying heavy armor man. He can get Battering Ram to ignore Rampart Aura, but flying units kinda do that already.

I think the difficulty as a whole was increased somewhat, mostly at the start when you have terrible gear and skills. For example, the very first real battle has Canopus join you as a guest...and he died my first time in that fight. Uh. Canopus, the gamebreaker, died in an easy fight. I wound up making Denam a Cleric and fielded a second one and I still had quite a few incaps. No deaths, but I had to use the Chariot more than a few times because things went south fast. The Chapter 2 Chaos fight against Vyce 1v1 wasn't bad with Cleric Denam, mostly because I used whatever to inflict Falsestrike and gave myself Truestrike, so I could whittle him down. The Chapter 3 Neutral fight to save Cerya was made easier by her being given armor and leggings, but I had more trouble with actually killing Oz than keeping her alive (since you can use Lifeline Gems to ensure your guest lives). That was one of the instances where I had to grind.

I don't really have anything negative to say about the mod. I had to grind a bit and that was off-putting, but I think that was what killed my interest in the original game. The changelog is set up logically, but there's no rolling "this is everything that's different as of this moment" sort of list, so you kinda have to read from the bottom-up to get an idea of how many changes there are. And there are a lot. The PDF changelog is 67 pages long and 65 of them are patch notes, though not all of them are full pages. Still, there's been a lot of work done on this mod and it really shows. And it's not even done. It is kinda annoying to have to actively overwrite your own memory of "oh, well X is different than what I read a few minutes ago" while you read, though.

This isn’t a change that the mod made (as far as I know there’s no text alterations) but this is something that happened while I was going through a second route and I never knew this was possible.

The changes to gear kind of makes new tiers unlocking less exciting, not that they really were much in the original. Every standard upgrade does more than the prior one, but I don't really think it's a negative. The author has also tried to use the crafting system to give direct upgrades to some items that have big gaps between levels so that does help to keep things feeling consistent. I felt the light helmets gap between Circlet and Damasc Helm was pretty wide but that's something that can be addressed later. At least the system is otherwise pretty consistent instead of having one item increasing one set of stats and the next iteration increases something else.

One Vision is definitely worth a look if you're kind of tired of standard Tactics Ogre. I think it does a fine job of cutting off the chaff and streamlining things, but you should take some time to look over the extensive changelogs so you're not going to get your ass handed to you when the tried-and-true tricks of old cease to work. I'd suggest downloading a save that has classes maxed and so on so you can get a preview of all of the differences, if spoilers are no problem for you.

I honestly feel like trying a for-fun run where Denam only has monster allies for some reason now...

Edit: Hi, I’m an idiot and I guess I thought it was the same name as the Deus Ex mod, but nope! I fixed the name here almost a month after the fact.

#playstation portable #game mod #recommended

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bobshollyworld-blog · 7 years ago

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Weekly Roundup #4

Happy Monday, everyone! I told myself that I wouldn't hunt as hard this week as I did the week previously, and wouldn't you know it... I failed. 😫 I failed hard. I failed so hard. I didn't mean to get carried away, but I saw one thing that I liked and then another that I could use for project A, and then I couldn't get this without also getting that. You know how it goes. This week's haul was massive. Thirty-six, count 'em, THIRTY-FUCKING-SIX figures in what is the largest bounty so far. ost of them were in multipacks, but that just means I got more bang for my buck. I also got a few things that aren't figures this week as well. That's rare for me, I know, but when yer crafting a tiny plastic world of imagination, you need to, you know, actually craft that world. That's enough of the jibber-jabber; let's check out the haul for Weekly Roundup #4:

First up, we have a single loose figure. He's some sort of knight, judging from his armour, and I'm going to use him as a background piece. He's cool looking. No articulation other than his axe that goes up and down in his hands, but since he won't be the focus of any scenery, he's not hindered by his limitations. This is a Schleich figure, and is probably the only one I've ever owned.

What year is it? 2018? Then why do I keep buying twenty year old toys? Because they're my heart and soul, that's why. I actually already own a Black Cat, loose out of the package, which I bought eight or so years ago. She came in her packaging, so I have all her accessories and everything. I didn't buy these off of eBay for Black Cat. No, I bought this lot simply for the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman. I have this same figure, but the dark blue and white Julia Carpenter version. I don't know if I've mentioned it previously, but I'm not a fan of Spider-Man AT ALL, but I own more of his action figures than any other character. That collection includes his allies and villains, of which this is my second Jessica Drew figure, with the other being an older Marvel Legends figure. I'll likely resell the Black Cats just to free up space.

I'm not super pressed on these WWE zombies, but I told myself that I would buy all of the third wave so I can make an awesome Halloween diorama. I would've waited until closer to that holiday to scoop them up, because Five Below has a healthy stock of them, but as you can tell from the photo these were on clearance at Target. Sure, I only saved a wee bit over a dollar for each figure, but that's three plus dollars that can go towards something more important. I'm only missing one of the set of six and that's the 'Phenomenal One'. I'll own him soon enough and I'll get started on that diorama.

Here's that bit of random that I have to get every week. I saw these little toilets in Five Below one day when I was with my kids, but they were five bucks a piece, and the way my wallet is set up... Let's just say that they stayed where I saw them. Then I saw more at a different store, and they were cheaper, but I couldn't justify the price still. When I saw them in Target on clearance, I grabbed two. I don't know if that's enough. I bought them simply to set up some bathroom scenery. Their for 5"/6" figures, so my new favourite childeen won't get to experience them, but you can't have yer cake and eat it too. The Ready Player One figures were bought at FYE, for dumb cheap. For those not familiar with the slang, in this case "dumb cheap" translates to just over two bucks for them. I had been eyeing them in Target for a few weeks, because they're 1:18 scale and they're not what most people collect, but they were too much at Target, even after they hit clearance. I'm glad I saw them when and where I did. I scooped them right up.

I was trying to post these photos from least excited about to most excited about, and to a certain extent I've succeeded at that, but I'm actually very excited about this lot. They were all bought at Collectors Corner, as was most of the remaining items. I bought both the Mace and Lando as potential fodder for modifications to the Rage I bought a few weeks ago. Sadly, I couldn't get Lando's head off, and Mace's didn't fit onto Rage's body, so I still at the drawing board with Rage. They're cool figures. The Lando is probably my second or third favourite figure that I bought this week. He's damn cool. Lieutenant Yar was just a random purchase. I have some ideas for her, but we'll see.

So here's the thing: you can't collect 3.75" figures without at least getting a whiff of G.I. Joe. That brand is inarguably the one that made the 1:18 scale line what it is. With that being said, Joes are dumb expensive. Like, really bloody expensive. And they're hard to find in the wild. That's why lines like Lanard's The Corps, which has been riding the wave of Hasbro's Joes almost since the beginning, is an excellent fill-in. The two three-packs of figures weren't even twelve bucks. I'm not sure right now, but I don't even think they were ten bucks total. That's insane. Then there's the US Army figures. I didn't even care too much about them, but I wanted their accessories and setting. They'll blend in perfectly with the other soldiers.

We're getting down to the nitty gritty here. Fun fact: I've never typed the phrase 'nitty gritty' in my phone prior to the previous sentence, but auto correct knew that that was what I was going for after only typing in the first word. I digress. If you've been paying attention to the way I do the photos, I typically keep DC figures with their brand, and I do the same for Marvel. This week I've got a healthy amount of each, and I wasn't entirely sure which brand deserved to go on last. Ultimately, I went with Marvel because of volume. Simple as that. Now that that's out of the way, I would like to add that these DC offerings are fine figures. The Hawkman is fantastic. As the same with all the DC figures I've bought, I notice that they lack the same size and articulation as Marvel, but that doesn't stop them from being good toys. Hawkman looks cool in animated form. I honestly can't imagine him being in a more realistic sculpt. By the way, everything in this photo is from Collectors Corner. The last time I was there, there were three of the Green Lantern film two-packs, but this time there were only the two. I honestly only went back to pick up all three. The other characters were Kilowag and Ranakar. I'm disappointed that I missed out on him, but I'll get him eventually, along with some other Lantern Corps members.

Another thing Collectors Corner had an abundance of the first time I went was 3.75" Thor-related characters. Last time I picked up a bunch, but they also had multiple actually Thors that I didn't pick up because I didn't really like the look of Chris Hemsworth. They didn't have any this time, although I had decided to buy them if they had. While I was searching high and low for Kilowag, I came across most of what you see in this photo buried at the bottom of the bin they were in. The Spider-Men are meh, but the Lokis are amazing, and the Daredevil is the best figure I got this week. He actually was on a peg, so he was easier to find. The Spider-Man Homecoming two-pack was found at TJ Maxx, and what a find it was. There were three of them, and I was contemplating getting at least one more but decided against it. I haven't seen that film, but the suit Spidey is rocking is fucking sexy. Vulture is Vulture, and he's cool, too, but I was more impressed with the Spider-Man. It's crazy; although I don't care about Spider-Man, he's still managed to be the most numerous figure in my quickly growth 1:18 scale universe.

Well, there you have it folks. Another week, a other crazy, THRIFTY haul. I'm proud of myself, and I mean it this time when I say next week I'm going to take it easy on the figures. I'll be super busy with work so I won't have any time for figure hunting. 😉. Have a good week, y'all.

-Bob Hollywood, 6 August, 2018

#marvel #dc comics #3.75 inch action figures #5 inch action figures #weekly roundup #marvel universe #marvel infinite #star wars #90s action figures #schleich

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