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ace-reviews · 7 years ago

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Summer 2017 Watchlist

Time for this again. Since this is my second time doing this, we now have categories! Hooray!

Long-Running Mainstays

Case Closed

I’ve actually been skipping more episodes than I’ve been watching since this series moved to Saturdays, but I still like it a whole bunch. It’s just that this is the kind of show where it’s easy to skip a few episodes and not miss anything, so on days where I don’t have the time/energy to watch all the new episodes, it ends up being the natural choice to skip for the week.

Dragon Ball Super

So you know that part last week where Goku was training Caulifla? Wasn’t that awesome?! That scene was so good that I’m not actually going to spend this time complaining about how Freeza is a boring character and I wish they would stop bringing him back, as I was planning to do since the season began. I want Caulifla to go Super Saiyan Blue before the tournament ends. I really want Universe 6 to win the tournament so the Gaiyans can be Our New Heroes. I know it’s not gonna happen but I waaaaaaaaant it. Super Saiyan Blue Caulifla will be a great consolation prize.

Ninja Girl & Samurai Master

God, I’m so happy I get to put this here. If this series gets cancelled before it reaches it’s natural conclusion I’ll cry.

Shonen Ashibe Go! Go! Goma-chan

This anime is still cute and funny and that episode with the festival was adorable.

Cour Two Goodies

100% Teacher Pascal

I love this show. It’s fun. The “Pascalenglish Straight Outta America” bits alone are worth the price of admission. I said last season you should check this out, and I’m saying it again. Check this out. You probably won’t regret it.

My Hero Academia

I feel so blessed. I figured we’d just get 12 episodes a year. Studio BONES, you’re spoiling us. (Now when’s Mob Psycho Season 2 coming?)

Sakura Quest

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I have a bad habit of completely forgetting this anime exists, but that’s not really an indicator that it’s bad. It’s very good. I like it a lot. It’s just kinda low-energy and feels more like a live-action drama than an anime, so it tends to get overshadowed by the more showy anime-y stuff.

Returning Favorites

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight

summary: people use the internet to curse their abusers/people who annoy them to hell

I wasn’t expecting a new Hell Girl, so it was a nice surprise. This is the first Hell Girl series I’m getting to watch on first run, and to be honest, I think I kinda prefer marathoning it? Every episode leaves me really wanting more, which is not at all a bad thing.

New Game!!

summary: recent high school graduate aoba gets a job at an all-female gaming company

Three cheers for sequels that continue the story and character development instead of resetting everything back to zero and making us watch Part One But Worse This Time!

Saiyuki Reload Blast

summary: our four favorite assholes continue their road trip to india

Oh, I knew this was comin’. I’ve been looking forward to it since last year. I don’t like the shaky cam (does anyone? why do they keep doing it? i thought it went away when 3d became a big thing), but aside from that it’s pretty Saiyuki. They even brought he Ura Sai bits back! Hooray!

Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stores

summary: a creepy dude in a mask tells scary picture stories

This is another returning series I wasn’t expecting. The first two seasons were summer anime, but then the next two moved around a bit. I wonder if this coming back to summer (which from what I understand is like prime time for horror in Japan) means last season did really well. I definitely enjoyed it. I mean, they still haven’t managed to top the umbrella woman or tormentor from season 1, but it’s still a cool show.

New Stuff

18if

summary: a guy with a mysterious past helps girls with their personal struggles through their dreams

I know a lot of people don’t like anime about the main dude "rescuing” a procession of girls from their hangups with the Power of Love, but I don’t mind ‘em. It’s at least better than anime where the protagonist treats the overwhelmingly female supporting cast like sentient underwear or tit support systems. And in this case, maybe all the witches are supposed to be falling in love with Haruto and I’m just not picking up on it, but only the third episode felt like it had any real romance, and it was largely one-sided. Plus there’s the fact that from the girls’ perspective, he’s just a figment of their imagination that showed up in their anxiety dreams. Not exactly the basis of a whirlwind romance.

Anyway, I like this show a lot. It’s well-made and funny and I like the cat man. His curry song in the last episode was cute.

A Centaur’s Life

summary: cute monster girl shenanigans... mostly

This show’s kind of a mixed bag. I mean, I like it, and there’s lesbians in it that they show outright states are lesbians, but sometimes it’s a bit too grounded in reality, and it makes me think about stuff like the logistics of sex with centaurs, which I don’t want to think about, thank you very much. It’s a bit too much like sex with horses and I’ve never even been to South Carolina.

Classroom of the Elite

summary: a classroom full of assholes find they have to work together to survive school life

I was initially worried that the amount of assholes in the cast would get draining, but it hasn’t. This is a clever show. The concept is played like your typical death battle school show, but instead of turning the kids against each other, it’s set up so they have to learn to cooperate. I also thought it was kinda funny that the kids reacted to the idea that their value as students is reflected in their paycheck like it was horrible injustice, even though that’s literally how paychecks work.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life

summary: an orphan boy moves into a haunted apartment building while his school dorms are being rebuilt

I kind of expected the inevitable Yushi-has-to-move-out-but-then-realizes-he-was-happier-with-the-quirky-people-so-moves-back-after-much-drawn-out-angst arc to be the two-episode conclusion to the series, but they’re already doing that so that’s nice that they’re getting it over with. Would’ve preferred for him to save us the trouble of waiting for the inevitable conclusion by just deciding he was happy where is and not moving into the dorms to begin with, but maybe living in the dorms in required or something? I don’t know if they mentioned it and if they did I wasn’t paying attention.

Gamers!

summary: the most popular girl in school invites hapless nerd to join gaming club. he declines. hilarity ensues

This anime had a pretty solid first episode, then a great second episode, then back to a pretty solid third episode. I kinda wish it would’ve stayed great for more than one episode, but who knows. Maybe it’ll be able to get (and stay!) that good again.

In Another World With My Smartphone

summary: a 15-year old boy is in another world. with his smartphone

The second and third episodes weren’t quite as charming as the first, but the fact that they’re playing this overdone genre straight instead of trying to “deconstruct” it or winking and nudging at the audience every five minutes is still very refreshing. Not a huge fan of the running gag of Touya trying to get the girls to fight the clothing damage monster, but aside from that it’s refreshingly innocent, as well. This is just an overall refreshing series. Needs more God, though.

MAGICAL CIRCLE GURU GURU

summary: DRAGON QUEST ANIMEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I’M STILL SO HAPPY THIS EXISTS. THANK YOU PRODUCTION IG YOU ARE MY FAVORITE NOW AND FOREVER.

Restaurant to Another World

summary: a normal japanese restaurant opens in anime fantasyland once a week

I’ve seen a few complaints that this show is boring, and while it kinda is, it’s the good kind of boring that’s relaxing and makes me very very very very very very hungry. I also really like that it’s basically a typical isekai story in reverse, where instead of a hapless nerd leaving boring old modern Japan for adventure and romance in Anime Fantasyland, Anime Fantasyland comes to Japan to make the mundane seem awesome. Which is a cool concept.

And have you seen that sexy-ass tomato?! I’m happy watching this show just to see that in the OP every week. Damn. That is a sexy-ass tomato.

On the Chopping Block

Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun

summary: a boy with crippling mental health issues plays badly animated soccer and this is apparently supposed to be funny

Still haven’t figured out why I like this show. Every week I tell myself this is the week I will drop it, and every week I watch it anyway (though this week I wasn’t paying attention and couldn’t tell ya what happened in it. Somethin about the butt guy). Just watch. I’m gonna end up droppin somethin up there and stickin with this all season. I can feel it in my bones.

The Reflection

summary: there are superheroes in new york cause of somethin they said in the second episode i wasn’t paying attention this anime is really boring

I said in my first impressions that I would give this three episodes but it’s just... so... boring. I don’t think I can sit through a third one. I’m gonna coin a term here. Please use it so it catches on: “gif-ime” (pronounced “gif-uh-may”). It’s basically anime (though you can feel free to use it to refer to any visual medium; I’m not gonna stop you) that reaches it’s full potential as a series of animated gifs. It’s really pretty to look at, but God there’s nothing else to it. I am so bored just thinking of this damn series. Not even Stan Lee doing the next episode previews can make this show entertaining.

I might at least try to watch the third episode, and I’ll definitely be writing my follow-up review, but God I just... I don’t want to.

So there’s this season’s watchlist. There were a couple of series I said I’d be sticking with in my first impressions that aren’t here, but in both cases it’s because I got bored and don’t care.

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aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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Best DC Comics to Binge Read on DC Universe

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With an enormous swath of the world involved in varying degrees of social distancing, many of us suddenly find ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. Never fear! There are more options for streaming comics than ever before, and that means we have access to more of comics history, more hidden gems and epochal runs than ever before. But the variety of options to read can be daunting. That’s why we’ve put together a recommendation list of some of our favorite comics binge reads to help you through quarantine.

DC Universe rolled out in 2017 as the first full-service entertainment streaming platform – old shows, old movies, new shows, new movies, and a huge library of comics. And while a lot of the excitement over the platform has been about that original or new shows (justifiably! Harley Quinn and Doom Patrol are amazing!), it also gave us access to a staggering catalog of old comic books.

If you’re coming to a comic streaming service like DC Universe, chances are you don’t need us to recommend the hits. Nobody who watches the CW shows needs to be told that Crisis on Infinite Earths is worth reading. Likewise Batman: Year One, or All-Star Superman or The Great Darkness Saga. We’re going to skip over some of the obvious ones and point you towards hidden gems, stories you might have otherwise skipped over but for a trusted recommendation. We are also looking for monster runs that will keep you occupied – you can read six issues in one sitting. Some of these might take you an entire round of social distancing to finish.

A quick note about the reading guides: Many of them may have their own separate entry under DC Universe’s reading lists – those are helpful, but these are definitive. We will occasionally link to non-Den sources, but if you like what you hear, you should be encouraged to find your own best path. A lot of these stories wend through crossovers that are of varying degrees of relevance to the main books. It’s your call if you want to read the whole thing.

The Death and Return of Superman

The Death of Superman Reading Order

I know I said we wouldn’t talk about obvious must reads, but I feel like The Death of Superman (and it’s aftermath, World Without a Superman, Reign of the Supermen, and Kal-El’s inevitable return) should be on here. They can’t really be recommended enough.

“The ‘90s” are often maligned as a wave of gimmicks and stunts, and killing the most important comic character in the history of superhero books definitely qualifies as a stunt. But what made The Death of Superman stand out (and several other ‘90s DC events, to be honest) is that it was actually very good. This era of Superman comics is actually a hidden gem – Clark is a joy, and all the weirdness and fun of the Superman universe is in full swing, like Cadmus, Mxyzptlk, and a truly bizarre (but surprisingly good) Justice League roster.

Movies

Men of Steel: 11 Actors Who Have Played Superman

By Mike Cecchini

How Brandon Routh Returned as Superman for Crisis on Infinite Earths

By Mike Cecchini

The four writers – Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, and Dan Jurgens – move pretty seamlessly between them on the main Superman books, and the art teams (Jon Bogdanove, Jurgens, Butch Guice, and Tom Grummett especially in the Death story) do amazing jobs of telling the story. Don’t be fooled by how gimmicky this feels, The Death and Return of Superman actually lives up to the hype.

Batman & Robin

Batman & Robin #1-17, Annual #1, Batman #17, Batman & Robin #18-32, Robin Rises: Omega, Batman & Robin #33-37, Robin Rises: Alpha #1, Batman & Robin #38-40, Annual #3

The Pete Tomasi/Patrick Gleason run on Batman and Robin never got the love it should have, because it ran parallel to two of the most high-profile Bat-comics of all time in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman, and the back half of Grant Morrison’s story in Batman Incorporated. But in ten years, people are going to be looking back at this as a classic.

Comics

True Detective Creator Outlines What His Version of Batman Would Be Like

By John Saavedra

Movies

The Batman: Release Date, Cast, Villains, and More Details About the DCEU Movie

By Rosie Fletcher and 2 others

This is a controversial claim, but if you read this run, I think it holds up: Pete Tomasi writes the best Damian Wayne. He’s the right mix of arrogant little shit and not-actually-as-competent-as-Batman, and he actually learns lessons in this run that feel earned. He also dies during these stories, and Tomasi gets the chance to explore Bruce’s way of grieving, as well as drop in a series of guest stars that includes the best Two Face story I’ve ever read. Gleason and inker Mick Gray are utterly incredible, and do as much with one sixth-page panels with heavy inks and silhouettes as many art teams do with full page splashes. It’s a great, underrated run that I think you’ll love.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (2006) #14-44, one story in #600

Oh my goodness Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman is exactly, precisely what I want out of a Wonder Woman comic. To me, Diana’s comics are an exception in that they should be as focused on how to avoid fighting as they are on the action. This run does that perfectly: she isn’t a belligerent meathead looking to stab everything in sight (but she does spend a little time with a neat Conan analogue, while we’re on the subject). She’s truly an agent of peace who then periodically has to kick some ass.

Movies

Wonder Woman Wasn’t Always Set During World War I

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Wonder Woman 1984: Who Is Maxwell Lord?

By Jim Dandy

The art is really good – Aaron Lopresti and Bernard Chang handle the bulk of it, and the storytelling and pacing are really well handled, but the panel borders stand out as especially interesting and visually entertaining. The guest stars are great – Black Canary brings Diana to Roulette’s fight club for a couple of issues, and there’s a big Power Girl punchup later in the run. This is just excellent, excellent Wonder Woman storytelling.

Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad on Comic Book Herald (end at issue #66)

John Ostrander, Kim Yale, and (mostly) Luke McDonough’s original Suicide Squad is a revelation. The concept is almost overdone at this point, and is a little bit ruined by putting big names like Harley Quinn on the team, but taking a batch of nobody villains and putting them on suicide missions to earn their freedom actually sets serious stakes, and this book does everything it should with those stakes. This is politics and espionage and force projection all wrapped into a story that makes the DC Universe feel more complete.

Movies

Suicide Squad 2 Cast, Release Date, News, Story, and More Details

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

The Many Deaths of The Suicide Squad

By Marc Buxton

Beyond the plotting, though, there are so many great characters that come out of these books. Amanda Waller is one of the single best characters in all of DC Comics, and this is the run that made her the badass who can face down Batman in the shower without flinching. Punch and Jewlee are hilarious running gags. Deadshot gets some incredible work. Hell, even Captain Boomerang gets multiple dimensions added to him (without ever losing his core concept: he’s a giant asshole). I promise you, I’m underselling how good this era of Suicide Squad is.

Legion of Super-Heroes

Legion of Super-Heroes Secret Files & Origins #2; Legion of Super-Heroes (1989) #122-125 alternating issues with Legionnaires (1993) #79-81; Legion Lost (2000) #1-12; Legion Worlds (2001) #1-5, The Legion (2001) #1-26, Legion Secret Files & Origins 3003; The Legion #27-33

If you loved Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Marvel space work, when you read their Legion of Super-Heroes, you’ll be baffled at how Guardians of the Galaxy ended up on the big screen and not this.

The Legion of Super-Heroes is generally regarded as…not the most newbie-friendly superhero team in the world. Fair or not, this run of Legion comics is incredibly accessible and does as good a job integrating them into the larger DC Universe as any I’ve read. It’s also exactly like DnA’s Marvel cosmic work, in that it is wonderful space opera that happens to have superheroes. The first batch of stories deals with a wave of catastrophes hitting the galaxy in quick succession. Legion Lost has a group of Legionnaires get thrown outside of the galaxy as they’re trying to fix one of the first catastrophes. Legion Worlds serves as a series of check-ins with popular Legionnaires left behind in the United Planets and is a really effective way to hook you into the 31st century of the DC Universe.

And finally, The Legion is an outstanding team book following all of those. Legion Lost is an unquestionable highlight; Olivier Coipel’s art is incredible, and the story will make you launch your tablet/phone/computer across the room at a couple of twists. This run is incredible comics.

Justice League International

…you don’t have to read all of this, but if you feel like going for it, do it. You can stop at the red dots, though.

The Bwa-Ha-Ha era is half-superhero comic, half-workplace comedy, the template for greatness to come in Legends of Tomorrow, but a great superhero work in its own right. It’s an era of Justice League that takes itself (and its villains, and its stakes) much less seriously than just about any other era of the last 40 years. If you were raised on the post-Morrison “New Olympus” era of the League, the tone shift might be a little jarring. But that tone shift is part of what makes Keith Giffen, J. M DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire’s run on Justice League special.

There are so many really good characters in this book, but one of the best parts is how much it does for both the League staples like Martian Manhunter and Batman, alongside the…less substantial…characters. Blue and Gold (Beetle and Booster, respectively) got their start here, and that one panel where Batman knocks out Guy Gardner that gets shared around the internet once a year is from this era.

Comics

Justice League Keeps Building the Wider DC Universe

By Mike Cecchini

Comics

New DC Universe Timeline Revealed

By Mike Cecchini

And besides being great comics, this run is also the favorite Justice League of a disproportionate amount of current comics writers, giving it an outsized influence on not just current books, but the rest of pop culture that superheroes have taken over – Wonder Woman 1984 is probably going to owe a HUGE debt to the Max Lord created by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire.

Deathstroke

Deathstroke: Rebirth #1; Deathstroke (2016) #1-18; Titans (2016) #11; Teen Titans (2016) #8, Deathstroke #19-20, Teen Titans Annual #1, Deathstroke #21-42 (and when they go up, read The Lazarus Contract crossover and through issue #50 of the main series)

Priest’s Deathstroke is the best book that came out of DC Rebirth. Under normal circumstances, Slade Wilson sucks. He too often falls into a murder daddy archetype, a super cool anti-hero who goes big on the violence and the dysfunction as background statuses, and not as relevant parts of his story. Priest turned all that on its head and turned in a 50 issue run (plus a couple of specials, annuals and crossovers) that was about a father who loved his kids and didn’t know how to tell them, who also happened to be a top shelf mercenary and supervillain.

Movies

Deathstroke Solo Movie Details Revealed by Gareth Evans

By Kirsten Howard

Deathstroke: The Most Versatile Villain in the DC Universe

By Marc Buxton

That’s not to say there isn’t some super cool ass-whipping in it. Batman and Damian Wayne are recurring characters, as Priest sets up a mystery that might undo Damian as a character and gives more depth to Deathstroke’s issues with the Teen Titans. There’s an entire arc dedicated to him fighting various aspects of his own personality, personified in other villains from the rest of the DCU.

And it’s all so clearly and aggressively Priest – it has all the same style as his iconic Black Panther run, but with different storytelling to fit Slade’s tale. This is one of my favorite comics from recent years.

Starman

Starman Reading Order on ComicsBackIssues

For about three quarters of my entire life, DC had an absolute stranglehold on legacy in superhero comics. The entire DC Universe was littered with stories about someone new picking up an old cowl and an old title and having to grow into that role, whether it’s Jason Todd as Robin, Wally West as Flash, Dick Grayson as Batman, Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown. The list is nearly endless. The thing is, it’s a really good story archetype and an excellent use of shared universe superhero trappings to give heft and depth to stories that are otherwise not really allowed growth.

DC’s Stargirl Reveals Justice Society of America and Villains

By Mike Cecchini

Comics

Inside the Return of the Justice Society of America to the DC Universe

By Mike Cecchini

No comics did it better than James Robinson and Tony Harris’ Starman. It tells us the story of Jack Knight, the extremely Gen X son of golden age Starman Ted Knight. Ted is retired and passed his cosmic rod onto his son David, who gets murdered at the end of the first issue. It’s a hit on Ted’s whole family by one of his old villains, and Jack has to take up the rod to survive. Then he gets thrown into the mythology of the DC universe explained through the Starman legacy. It’s beautiful, fun, sad, meaningful, and heartfelt, and I bet you $1 that you cry at least once.

The Question

The Question (1986) #1-15, Detective Comics Annual 1988 , Green Arrow Annual 1988 , The Question Annual #1, The Question #16-24, Annual #2, #25-36

Comics

The Question Bounces Through Time In New DC Series

By Jim Dandy

Everyone jokes about how much of scenic Gotham City is abandoned amusement parks and chemical plants, but Gotham City is a family-friendly resort compared to the Hub City of Dennis O’Neill and Denys Cowan’s The Question. “Atmospheric” doesn’t even begin to describe this run.

It takes The Question, a character created by Steve Ditko, co-opted and pastiched as Rorschach by Alan More and Dave Gibbons in Watchmen, and introduced him to the DC Universe proper by putting Vic Sage through a spiritual ringer. Everything about this book is incredible – Vic is a terrific character; his supporting cast is thoroughly real; the book ties into the greater DC Universe really well (via Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and the annual crossover in the middle with Batman and Green Arrow).

But the real star here is Hub City, a love letter that’s also hate mail to mid-80s urban blight as scenery. And Cowan and inker Malcolm Jones III’s art – it’s tremendous.

Orion

Orion (2000) #1-25

I’ve been a fan of Walt Simonson’s Thor since I first read it, because it’s obviously incredible. But I didn’t realize until Thor: Ragnarok and DC Universe came out that Simonson might be the best comic creator to follow up on Jack Kirby’s ideas of all time, and it was Orion that really did it for me.

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Simonson puts Orion, son of Darkseid raised on New Genesis by Highfather as part of the peace treaty between the two factions of New Gods, on his prophesied track to kill Darkseid, and finishes it pretty early on. The fifth issue is just Simonson drawing a huge blowout fight between the two, and it’s predictably gorgeous. But he sticks with the story past that battle and digs deep into Orion’s character, the mythology of the New Gods, and some of Kirby’s best creations (the Newsboy Legion has a running subplot and it’s awesome). It also has backups from some of the biggest superstars in comics (Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons, among others). This is a hefty run of comics, but you won’t be able to put it down.

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