#like when batman the animated series transitioned into the new batman adventures

[stairset]

It's been like a year since Tales of the Jedi came out but it's still hilarious to me that when returning to early Clone Wars Ahsoka they took one look at the age inappropriate tube top that's impossible to take seriously and said damn did we really put her in this and just retroactively gave her a better outfit and there was just an unspoken agreement with the audience that we would just roll with it and pretend that that was her outfit the whole time.

[buriedalienfma]

This week saw the release of the season finale of 'My Adventures with Superman', and instead of talking about just the one episode, I'm going to talk about the entire season, and what I felt about the series as a whole. Obviously there will be spoilers here for the entire season, so take that into consideration.

Let's get this out of the way : Is this show perfect ? No. It has glaring flaws in the writing, the pacing and how it handles some of its characters. I consider this show to be a spiritual successor to the some of the more experimental superhero cartoons of the early 2000s such as the 2004 Batman cartoon or the MTV Spider-Man series, both of which took some extreme liberties with the source material and had some obvious flaws in how they were written. And yet I love those cartoons dearly, since they were, and still are, such fresh and unique takes on the two superheroes with the MTV Spider-Man being a gloriously edgy 2000s Spider-Man cartoon and The Batman being an anime inspired action show.

I remember those cartoons being criticized when they came out for how non-traditional they were compared to the comics and previous adaptations, but now they're considered cult classics, and I think the same is going to happen to 'My Adventures with Superman'. For the most part, I think the show is still quite good despite some of its flaws.

In any case, lets get those flaws out of the way, so that I can talk about what the show does right. The biggest point of contention is the pacing which is quite rushed in certain areas. I think the romance between Lois and Clark is extremely rushed since they fall in love and start dating a little too quickly for my tastes. The early episodes very much made it seem like the characters were just beginning to get to know each other, only for them to start dating in the next two of three episodes. I suspect that's why people complained about the dramatic cliffhanger in episode 5, since it feels like the characters aren't quite as close as they should be for them to have a falling out that works with how the characters have been written. Still, I think one can overlook that because the two characters are cute together and have excellent chemistry. The show transitions from the episodic narrative of the first few episodes to a more serialized structure in the second half, and I don't think it's as seamless as it should be, particularly since the show is still throwing a lot of new concepts at the audience in the second half and it doesn't land the way it should.

Some characters seem to be introduced and then quickly forgotten when the show has no need for them. In Episode three, the trio of Cat Grant, Steve Lombard and Ronnie Troupe are introduced only to be forgotten within the episode itself and the rest of the show. At least Steve Lombard gets one spotlight episode, but even that feels weird since he fades away into the background in subsequent episodes. Wouldn't it make more sense for Cat Grant to be the one who goes around interviewing the people of Metropolis in Episode eight instead of introducing a whole new character in Vicki Vale ? That would have given the show a stronger sense of continuity. 

And as a lot of people have already pointed out, the villains are underwhelming. There are some standouts like the General, Amanda Waller, Mxyzptlk and to a certain extent, Parasite. But the rest of the villains are pretty bland. I'm not going to complain about how the villains are different compared to the source material. As I've stated before, the cartoon is allowed to change things for the sake of the story. And yet, I still feel like the villains are the weakest part of the show since they mostly serve as obstacles for Superman. 

Some episodes are weaker than others. I was not fan of Episode 6 since I feel like the characters and concepts in that episode belong in a different show. And I also have some gripes about how the show handles the multiverse aspect in episode 7. 

Despite it's flaws, the show does have a lot of positive aspects, and one of them is how it handles the main character itself. I've said this before and I'll say it again. This show totally gets Superman. It's not just that he's a kind and compassionate man who wants to help everyone, including his enemies. This show understands that Superman is an alienated character. He has some deep seated anxieties about not being a 'normal' person, something that's set up in the very first episode. He's given a character arc where he has to slowly come to terms with the fact that he isn't normal and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Clark is also not a perfect person, as he does hide his true identity from his friends, which does drive a wedge between them, but stuff like that only makes him more relatable. I absolutely love that Clark has no real idea of where he comes from, and is even led to believe that he is part of an alien species that will invade Earth. Not only does that fuel his anxieties even more, as we see in the series finale, but it's just another part of his ongoing character arc, where he has to face his worst fears about himself and eventually conquer them. One thing that I liked about this show is that Superman seems to be subconsciously holding his powers back, which unfortunately gets him beaten up a lot in the fight scenes. I know a lot of Superman fans like to see a more powerful Superman, but the various fight scenes feel so much more visceral and tense when it feels like Superman is at risk of actually dying. Jack Quaid, the voice actor for Superman, absolutely nails the performance especially in the more emotional scenes.

The other characters are also great. I like that Jimmy is given more of a spotlight in this show, and gets his fair share of moments where he gets to save the day. I also like that he helps to ground both Clark and Lois as the voice of reason. Certainly hope that he gets a lot more spotlight and that the show adapts the Matt Fraction Jimmy Olsen comics, especially with how the season ends with Jimmy apparently becoming rich which is one of the major plot points in the Fraction comics. Lois is also quite excellent. She's a little different from traditional portrayals of the character, as she seems to lack the cynical and snarky edge that some versions of Lois have. This version of Lois is much more perky and emotional, but it works for what the show is going for. Both Lois and Jimmy have excellent voice actors in Alice Lee and Ishmel Sahid. If the show were to go on for longer, they, along with Jack Quaid, could very well become the definitive voice actors for these characters.

The romance between Lois and Clark is extremely well done, even if it is a little rushed. You totally buy the two as a couple since there's plenty of heartwarming and wholesome moments between the two. 

Speaking of that, I was a little worried that the show might just be nothing but a toothless wholesome and fluffy Superman show. I know a lot of people certainly expected the show to go in that direction, but we were definitely wrong about that. This show has its fair share of dramatic and even dark moments, and that's not a bad thing. Tension and conflict are at the heart of the best stories, and this show has plenty of that. I love the action scenes in this show. They get significantly more ambitious and exciting starting with the fight in episode five and it only gets better from there. 

So that's the first season of 'My Adventures with Superman'. It is by no means a perfect show, but its positive aspects outweigh the negative. If I may speculate on the upcoming plot points for the next season, I hope that the show subverts the idea that the Kryptonians are evil. I've said it before, but that would miss the point of Superman's story. That idea works for characters like Goku, but not for Superman. It does seem like the show is leaning in that direction considering how it ends with the Jor-El hologram saving Clark. On the whole I love this show and would recommend it to anyone who's still on the fence. It's quite different from traditional Superman shows and movies, but that only makes it feel more fresh and exciting. 

[lyinginahammock]

DC - The Reigning King of TV Superhero Animation

Let’s get this out of the way - on September 7, 1992, DC won the battle for TV superhero animation for all time with the premiere of the Batman: The Animated Series season 1, episode 14, “Heart of Ice”. The heartbreaking tale of Mr. Freeze’s origin, it won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program. Honestly, if nothing DC every put on broadcast TV ever again was any good, this episode would still be talked about as one of the greatest pieces of animated TV ever. 

But instead of resting on their laurels, DC decided to keep kicking ass. “Beware The Grey Ghost,” “Almost Got ‘Im”, “Trial”, “Mad Love”, “Growing Pains”, “Over the Edge”, “Old Wounds” - all amazing episodes of animated television from Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. 

Then, in 1999, DC decided to go for (and pull off) a Batman hat trick with the debut of Batman Beyond, a series originally designed to sell toys that the writers decided to make kick ass. But still, it eventually had to come to an end, and Marvel breathed a sigh of relief. 

Until November 7, 2001, when DC dropkicked them with the premiere of The Justice League, which transitioned into Justice League Unlimited with grace and style and was similarly amazing, but appeared to end that run of successes. 

At the same time, DC released the series that sealed their eternal victory and proved them the king of superhero animations - Teen Titans. An anime-infused take on the superhero team of the same name, it featured DC’s trademark complicated storytelling and ran for five years, followed by a pretty good movie. And the theme song fucking slapped, both in English and Japanese.

Also running concurrently was The Batman, another interesting take on the caped crusader which reimagined the origins and appearances of his rogues gallery and had some absolutely heartbreaking twists and turns.

After that came Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I’ll die on this fucking hill - the show is better than people online give it credit for. It focused on the campy elements of comic books of yore, but also gave us the amazing episode “Chill of the Night!”, an examination of what it means to be the Batman.

Then came Young Justice, a wholly original take on a number of DC heroes and villains and marked the TV premier of fucking Superboy. The first season is, in my mind, damn near perfect.

Of course, you have stuff like Teen Titans Go! but that isn't conducive to my point, so I'm ignoring it.

Finally, we get to the present day with programming like The Harley Quinn Show and My Adventures With Superman, the former of which has gained a strong fan base and the latter of which shows amazing potential.

So, why does DC's animation devision have so many absolute fucking bangers under its belt while Marvel doesn't have nearly the same track record? Well, I have a theory.

Marvel hit it big with the MCU and thus have a sort of cannon and, as such, the characterization of their characters has to be pretty consistent across mediums, even animation. DC, however, doesn't have anything like that and can reimagine their characters any way they want. That and their animation department has been kicking ass so long they've proven that, left to their own devices, they'll pump out quality material.

So, yeah.

[deathiscoldbatman]

Any thoughts about Matt Hagen being the Clayface DC reforms?

This post may be a bit longer than my usual affairs, as I feel he's deserving of analysis both on the comics side and the [major] animated appearance side of things. So, since I mentioned comics first, let's break it down by comics to start. That'll be a lot shorter. Also my dog is giving me a migraine rn because the air conditioner cleaner people have come over.

In the pre-Crisis comics, Matthew Hagen is a petty art/jewel thief who decided to keep thieving when he found out he could shape shift for limited amounts of time before needing to refuel himself. There's...really not much I can say about comic!Matt, as that's literally his entire character. Sure, I've personally expanded upon him in fic, but fanfiction isn't canon and that's kind of the entire point of fanfiction. Literally this man was so irrelevant that DC killed him off in the 1980's and no one batted an eye. Afaik, they never brought him back either, except in tie-in material for the Young Justice series. In which his origin is entirely different, but we'll talk about that if/when I can get Rue to stop screaming at the repairman because she's getting on my nerves. In short, I guess you could redeem comics!Matt, but there's no canon evidence that he would ever want to stop committing crimes. Maybe that would be different if he was brought back and his origin reinvented. But I don't always deal in hypotheticals.

I'll be going over his animated appearances next.

- Batman: the Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures/Justice League: first of all, I fucking hate BtAS as a whole and could barely stomach my way through Feat of Clay pts 1 and 2. It makes me ill, and not in a good way; about the only episode I tolerate is the Mr. Freeze origin. But, ignoring the fact this version of Matt's backstory is entirely lifted from what the comic books and other media would do to Basil Karlo as there was no canon basis for Matt ever wanting to be an actor [although I guess you could swing it, Matt's greatest flaw is his greed], it's a decent enough introduction that doesn't fail to make the character it's introducing sympathetic; note that I haven't watched any of the later episodes of BtAS where he appears, but I've heard things. It's not awful within the context of the canon it comes from, and I could definitely see that version of Matt becoming a hero if not some normal guy again. The accident wasn't his fault, and in later appearances he still didn't seem to be all that thrilled about the crime thing. Also what was up with "Growing Pains" as an episode. At the very least, it showed his desire for a normal life, even if he had to create an entirely separate person [who became her own thing] to experience it.

- Young Justice: first off I've never personally watched this show. My knowledge of it is still fairly comprehensive though, thanks to my friend Conner being a walking encyclopedia. And I actually really like how Matt is in this show. His relationship with Talia is dare I say almost cute if extremely one sided [as he's just using her to find a cure for his terminal cancer], and the concept of him being part of the League of Shadows is one I feel should transition into the mainline comic series proper as there's really a lot you could do with that. I like how he redeems himself, not quickly but gradually. Re. Young Justice: Targets #1; he's working as a security guard and bodyguard, and seems genuinely content with his life.

In summary; redeeming Matt can work, you just have to know what you're doing as an author. Don't hijack some other Clayface's origin to do it, because people will notice. Maybe not many people, but people will notice. I'll notice.

[frankendykes-monster]

Space Jam: A New Legacy is content to be content.

The original Space Jam was a calculated marketing exercise. Michael Jordan was the biggest sports star of the nineties, and Space Jam capitalised on Jordan’s brand potential while also allowing the athlete to refashion his own narrative into a family-friendly mythology. Space Jam packaged Jordan for a generation, smoothing the wrinkles out of his story by presenting a wholesome family man making an earnest transition from basketball to baseball.

It also helped Warner Bros. to figure out what to do with their Looney Tunes characters, which had largely laid dormant within the company’s intellectual property vaults. There had been a conscious effort to revitalised the company’s animation with shows like Tiny Toon Adventures and even Animaniacs, but those classic and beloved cartoons were a merchandising opportunity waiting to happen. So the logic of the original Space Jam was clear, it was an excuse to tie together two potentially profitable strands of intellectual property.

Space Jam itself was something of an afterthought. The movie struggles to reach its ninety-minute runtime. It often feels like the production team have to utilise every scrap of film to reach that target, with extended riffs focusing on Bill Murray and Michael Jordan on the golf course and with a lot of the improvisation from the voice cast included in the finished film. The movie’s ending comes out of nowhere, and Space Jam struggles to hit many of the basic plot beats of a scrappy sports movie.

The movie itself was immaterial to the success of Space Jam as a concept. After all, the film only grossed $250m at the global box office, enough to scrape into the end of year top ten behind The Nutty Professor and Jerry Maguire. However, the film’s real success lay in merchandising, with the film generating between $4bn and $6bn in licensing and merchandising. Key to this was the success of the six-time platinum-certified soundtrack which remains the ninth highest-grossing soundtrack of all-time.

In some to trace a lot of modern Hollywood back to the original Space Jam. So much of how companies package and release modern media feels like an extension of that approach, the reduction of the actual film itself to nothing more than “content” that exists as a larger pool of marketable material. After all, the unspoken assumption underlying AT&T’s disastrous decision to send all of their blockbusters to HBO Max was the understanding that HBO Max itself was often packaged free with company’s internet. Movies would no longer be their own things, but just perks to be packaged and sold as part of larger deals.

In the decades since the release of Space Jam, the industry has become increasingly focused on the idea of packaging and repackaging intellectual property. It has become increasingly common for films to showcase multiple intellectual properties housed at the same studios. Simple crossovers like Alien vs. Predators or The Avengers now seem positively humble when compared to the smorgasbord of brand synergy on display in projects like The Emoji Movie or Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Interestingly, as Disney have steadily securing their intellectual property portfolio with additions like Pixar and Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. have becoming increasingly bullish about showcasing the depth and breadth of their bench. The LEGO Movie imagines a wide range of properties consolidated under one brand. Ready Player One depicted a pop culture user space lost in nostalgia for properties and trinkets. However, those movies also managed to tell their own stories, even as they grappled with the weight of brand synergy pushing down on top of them.

Space Jam: A New Legacy has no such delusions. It understands that it does not exist as a story or as a feature film. Instead, it has distilled cinema down to a content-delivery mechanism. The plot of the movie finds basketball star LeBron James sucked into the “Serververse” and forced to ally with the Looney Tunes in order to play a basketball game with the fate of the world in the balance. However, while the original Space Jam ran a brisk and unfocused ninety minutes, A New Legacy extends itself to almost two hours. There is always more content to repackage and sell, after all.

A New Legacy slathers its cynicism in nostalgia, directly appealing to a generation of audiences who have convinced themselves that Space Jam was a good movie and a beloved childhood classic. A New Legacy is built around the understanding that the original Space Jam walked so that it might run, counting on the audience’s nostalgia for the original film to excuse a lot of its indulgences. After all, it would be a betrayal of the franchise if A New Legacy wasn’t a crash and vulgar cash-in. In many ways, A New Legacy does what most sequels aspire to do, scaling the original film’s ambitions aggressively upwards.

As with the original Space Jam, there is layer of irony to distract from the film’s clear purpose. In the original Space Jam, the villainous Swackhammer planned to abduct the Looney Tunes and force them to play at his themeparks. The implication was that the characters did not want to be sold into corporate servitude, stripped of their own identity and rendered as crass tools of unchecked capitalism. The irony of Space Jam lay in the fact that the entire movie was a variant on Swackhammer’s themepark and the Looney Tunes were dancing to that theme anyway as Daffy puckers up and kisses the Warner Bros. stamp on his own ass.

In A New Legacy, a sentient algorithm – Al G. Rhythm – is cast as the movie’s primary antagonist. The film gestures broadly at a satirical criticism of the modern film industry, with Al G. Rhythm shaping and warping the future of movie-making by suggesting things like computer-generating movie stars and producing a constant array of recycled intellectual property. A New Legacy recognises the machinations of Al G. Rhythm as unsettling and horrifying, with throwaway jokes about the theft of ideas and the violation of privacy, but the villain largely serves as a smokescreen to let the movie have its cake and eat it.

After all, A New Legacy revels in Al G. Rhythm’s plans. LeBron James is turned into an animated figure and dumped into classic Looney Tunes shorts like Rabbit Season and The Rabbit of Seville. The film understands that while the audience might be afraid of the algorithm, they also yearn for it. After all, it isn’t Al G. Rhythm who structures A New Legacy so that the film spends an extended sequence touring the company’s beloved intellectual properties.

A New Legacy is really just an investors’ day presentation that celebrates the sheer amount of content that Warner Bros. own. It’s not too difficult to imagine the film screened investors before the Discovery deal, as proof of just how many viable franchising opportunities existed within the copyright of the company itself. It’s a weird and unsettling showcase, in large part because it feels like that warning from Jurassic Park. The studio were so obsessed with whether they could do a thing that they never stopped to consider whether they should.

The film’s middle section includes a whirlwind tour of the properties owned by Warner Bros. After Bugs “plays the hits” with James, the two set off on an adventure to recover the other Looney Tunes from other beloved Warner Bros. properties. Some of these advertisements make sense: Daffy and Porky are living in the world of Superman: The Animated Series, while Lola seems to have found the Wonder Woman from the Bloodlines animated films. Others make much less sense in a movie aimed at kids, like the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote hiding in Mad Max: Fury Road or Yosemite Sam living in Casablanca.

Of course, it’s debatable how much of A New Legacy is aimed at kids, as compared to the kids of the nineties. Its target market seems to be kids in the late nineties who never grew up, because they never had to. Elmer Fudd and Sylvester are hiding out in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Granny and Speedy have taken refuge in the opening scenes of The Matrix. While the original Space Jam featured odd pop cultural shoutouts to things like Pulp Fiction, at least that was somewhat contemporaneous.

To be fair, there is no art driving these choices. Many of these references serve to point the audience towards established properties. It is a sentient recommendation algorithm for HBO Max and a handy way of stoking audience interest in upcoming projects like The Matrix 4 (December 2021) or Furiosa (June 2023). It is a helpful reminder that Superman: The Animated Series has been remastered in high definition to stream on HBO Max. Foghorn Leghorn even rides a dragon from Game of Thrones to remind viewers that the show is streaming on HBO Max and that there are prequels coming.

It’s all very bizarre, but also strangely lifeless. The climax of the film finds the inevitable basketball game played in front of a crowd of familiar pop culture icons drawn from a wide range of sources: King Kong, The Iron Giant, Batman ’66, The Wizard of Oz, The Mask and many more. It feels very much like a surreal power play, a company showcasing the depth of its own vaults at a turbulent time in the industry. It leads to weird moments, like Al G. Rhythm even quoting Training Day, perhaps the film’s most unlikely draw from the “Warner Bros. Intellectual Property Vault.”

The most revealing aspect of the movie is its central conflict, with Al G. Rhythm cynically manipulating LeBron’s son Dom. Dom is convinced that his father doesn’t understand him, that his father is unable to see that his skill lies in video game coding rather than old-fashioned basketball. Rhythm is able to create a schism between father and son, using Dom’s code and his anger to attack and undermine LeBron James and the Looney Tunes. It’s a very broad and very archetypal story. There are no points for realising that Dom eventually comes around to his father and accepts that Rhythm is a villain.

However, it signals an interesting shift in these sorts of narratives. Traditionally, these sorts of generational conflicts played out between fathers and sons, with fathers presented as antagonistic and sons presented as heroic. The original Star Wars saga is built around Luke Skywalker trying to wrestle and grapple with his father Darth Vader. In Superman II, the eponymous superhero is forced to confront Zod, a representative of his father’s generation and the old world. Even in Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne is set against his surrogate father figure Ra’s Al Ghul.

The metaphor driving these sorts of stories was fairly simple and straightforward. Every generation needs to come into their own and take control of their own agency within the world. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi ends with Darth Vader dead and Luke staring out into the wider universe. Times change, and each generation has an obligation to try to create a better world than the one left to them by their parents. In the conflict between parents and children, it has generally been children who have prevailed.

However, in recent years, the trend has swung back sharply. It’s notable that the villain in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is an errant child who doesn’t properly respect his parents, and that Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker ends with order restored when the protagonist takes the name of the beloved heroes of the older films. Shows like Star Trek: Picard are built around the idea that kids need their older generation of parents to swoop in and tell them how to properly live their lives.

A New Legacy is an interesting illustration of this trend. The movie ends with a reconciliation between LeBron and Dom, but it is very clearly on LeBron’s terms. Dom is manipulated and misled by sinister forces, and his father has to save him while realigning his moral compass. Father knows best. It demonstrates how the underlying logic of these stories has shifted in recent years, perhaps reflecting the understanding that perhaps the older generation won’t surrender the floor gracefully.

As with Ready Player One, there’s a monstrous Peter Pan quality to A New Legacy. It is a film about how the culture doesn’t have to change. It can be recycled and repurposed forever and ever and ever. At the end of Space Jam, Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny parted ways. There was an understanding that the two worlds existed apart from one another. However, A New Legacy ends with the collapse of these worlds into one another; the “Serververse” manifesting itself in the real world. As LeBron walks home, Bugs asks if he can move in.

Of course, with HBO Max subscription, the audience can take Bugs home anytime they want

[kikithegeek]

An Amateur Review of Ridley Pearson’s Super Sons

Please be aware: This will contain some spoilers for the Super Sons graphic novels written by Ridley Pearson. If you do not wish to be spoiled on plot or character development, please stop reading this and come back once you’ve read through the books yourselves. Otherwise, enjoy this amateur review.

INTRODUCTION

As someone who grew up reading comics from Marvel, DC, IDW, and Archie, it was always fun when legacy characters were introduced or focused on. Characters that were students or the children of characters that my parents grew up with always felt nice to me, and even relatable when they were introduced or shown to be growing up in a similar or the same time period as my friends and I. Taking this into account, it’s no wonder that by the time I was in high school, some of my favorite comics involved Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy. Yes, I was definitely older than them by the time their series came in, but some of the problems they faced, even the small ones, seemed familiar to my own. Problems such as Jon’s reluctance of moving away from Hamilton County to Metropolis where he’d be leaving behind people he’s known for years into what is essentially a foreign environment for him, or both characters having to live up to the examples their parents have set; something I’m sure many of us can relate to as children are always compared to their parents or successful family members. The growing friendship between them was always a highlight no matter what type of adventure they were on.

In 2019, Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez released the first book in their 3-part series starring Jon and Damian in a sort of rebooted universe. Fan feedback at the time was mixed, with some fans unhappy and others just happy they were getting more content featuring their favorite duo. Personally, I wasn’t paying attention all that much; I was in the middle of college and my focus had drifted away from comic books that year to focus on my studies, but with the recent pandemic and more time to read I’ve fallen back into the rabbit hole of super heroes and villains. I remember there being an outcry against the books when the previews began to be released, but after they did release and finished their run, I didn’t hear anything. No one really actively talked about what the books were about and most of what I heard seemed to come from people who read a handful of pages, if at all, and then never finished it. So, I decided to put my two cents in and read them. I’ll be looking at them as someone who has been a fan of their main-like counterparts for years, and as someone who also acknowledges that this isn’t canon to it and is an alternate universe (or alternate Earth in the cases of the DC comics multiverse), if anything to look at it from a neutral perspective.  

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time I’ve read through Ridley Pearson’s work. In middle school and even through high school, I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom Keepers and Peter and the Starcatcher, even getting tickets to see the touring cast of the latter’s theater adaptation when they came to my state. I’ve read a few interviews on his work with the Super Sons before going into the books themselves, and he doesn’t neglect to say that this series isn’t connected to the normal DC canon (whatever that is these days; any comic book reader knows that reboots, especially for DC in the last decade, usually happen quite a bit). Okay, that’s probably a given, and it makes things easier considering the main target demographic are kids aged 10-14. There’s a lot of content to go over when it comes to everything connected to Damian and Jon, even more so for Batman and Superman, so this makes it less difficult for kids who don’t have much experience with DC outside of the occasional tv show and movie to get into it.

But what about the story itself?

THE STORY

(The majority of the story spoilers are beyond this point since I summarize the books. This is your last spoiler warning.)

The story itself takes place in an alternate future. America is called Coleumbria and the global climate crisis has gotten to the point where it’s a race to find a way to stop the rising temperatures and constant flooding. While Batman and Superman spearhead the projects set to stabilize and then reverse the Earth’s temperature, their sons are moved from Metropolis to a city called Wyndemer with other refugees looking to find somewhere safe from the floods. This causes tensions in the city to heighten as refugees, called “flood runners”, are harassed by locals. Without going too in-depth into the books (otherwise, we’d be here all day), I’m going to summarize them. Certain characters and events might be omitted, but hey, at least it gives you a reason to read them even if I tell you what they’re about.

The first book introduces us to this crisis and shows us how this world’s Jon (who still goes by Superboy in this) and Damian (who is going by Batkid) meet. While there’s some animosity between them at first, with Jon having a not-too-hidden bias against Bruce Wayne, the two eventually start to work together when they realize their individual investigations are connected. Jon and his classmate, Tilly, have been looking into a mysterious illness that’s hospitalized Jon’s mother among many others, and Damian has been investigating sabotages against Wayne Tech dams. They also meet a girl named Candace who is trying to uncover a mystery that’s plagued her since her mom’s passing. After finding clues at a food company called Sage Foods, the group is attacked and manages to escape after Jon is told their attackers were sent by a woman named Arvyc. After finding out that Candace and Damian had set Jon up earlier in the book to be attacked by a few gang members, the group have a short fight before they go to the train station to stop Arvyc’s gang.

The second book opens with the boys helping Candace make it to a boat while escaping a group of girls called The Four Fingers. While they didn’t have as much of a presence in the previous book, had been shown as adversaries of Candace’s. Continuing into their investigations into the virus, Jon and Tilly learn that it was man-made as Candace’s visions lead her toward Coleumbria’s capital. The Four Fingers, meanwhile, are adamant about finding Candace, so they’ve taken to stalking her friends, until they realize they’re “dead ends”, so they choose to follow their own leads. It is revealed that The Four Fingers and Candace all have powers that connects them to certain species of animals; with Candace, she has a connection to birds and she states her grandmother was the same. Tilly comes up with her own vigilante persona, Puppet Girl, and stays behind in Wyndemer as Damian and Jon leave to go to Cinapolis to find the virus’s source. However, the boys get captured and Tilly decides she needs to help them. Candace in the meantime has found an anointing oil her mother had left clues for her to find, which is the key to the throne of Landis, the country she and The Four Fingers come from. It ends with the Super Sons and Tilly saving Candace and helping her get on a boat back to Landis while Arvyc escapes from prison.

The third and final book opens with Jon, Damian, and Tilly trying to track Arvyc down and it’s obvious that they’ve been at this for some time now, but they soon become the hunted. Candace makes it back to Landis and finds one of the rebels her mom had led before she was arrested. As Candace continues on her journey, Jon, Damian, and Tilly are sent by Batman to a LexCorp lab to retrieve a virus sample, only to find it isn’t there. They decide to go to Landis since The Four Fingers were heading there with the virus (and Candace had gone with intentions to stop them), but Tilly needs to stay behind again. The boys and Candace continue their respective journeys through Landis, however a man who’s been pulling the strings from the shadows for the last two books, Sir Reale, has decided to send Arvyc after them along with Talia. Talia and Arvyc attack the boys who manage to outsmart them for the moment, and are reunited with Candace who has been tracking the virus with two warriors named Kizuka and Archer. Tilly, back in Coleumbia, is sent out to retrieve Damian and Jon by Bruce’s assistant, Patience. After meeting up with Tilly, the group find a lab where The Four Fingers have been preparing vials of the virus in order to release it via bombs, and a battle ensues where they learn that sunlight can kill the virus and that Talia is Damian’s mother. Learning that they couldn’t stop all of the shipments, the group gathers the people of the local town to help them in storming the factory. They succeed in killing the remaining virus, save for a vial to be used to create a cure. With Superman’s mission a success and Batman working on a cure, the book ends with Candace being crowned the new Empress of Landis, Jon’s mother waking up, and Batman making Damian Robin.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE STORY

All in all, the story was okay. Personally, I felt like it was rushed in some places, such as how we’re brought from one character or scene to the next with little to no transition or breathing space. The endings were also kind of abrupt, which I feel really brought down the ending for the final book. We don’t really linger on whether or not Superman’s efforts to reverse global worming worked or have a moment where Jon and his dad are able to reunite with Lois. I was also disappointed to see they didn’t go anywhere with the whole “Talia is revealed to be Damian’s mother he had never met before and barely knew anything about” sub plot they had going in book three. People who know me know that the League of Assassins and any character associated with them are among my favorite villains in the Batman mythos, and to see it be brought in only for it to not have anything done with it was disappointing. Heck, you could have taken Talia out of it and the story would have been the same minus Damian being momentarily shaken before getting back to business. At the very least, an ending scene where Bruce confirms she’s his mother would have been nice enough closure for it. This might have been due to there being a page limit (each book was roughly 151 pages long) which lead to things being cut out, but it’s still disappointing nonetheless, especially since I did find myself enjoying parts that had pacing problems.

Pacing and unresolved plotlines aside, some of the things I did enjoy though involved Candace’s story arc. She’s one of the characters made for this series, and watching her figure out her past and come into her own with her powers was really enjoyable. I also felt like small snippets of character interactions between the boys, Candace, and Tilly were really well written. They actually felt like kids.

THE CHARACTERS

Since there are a lot of characters in this series, I’m only going to focus on the four main characters since we’re with them the entire time.

Jonathan Kent is probably the one out of him and Damian who’s the closest to his original counterpart, and I don’t just mean in looks. While he doesn’t have as many powers as he’s come to have in the main DC canon, he does have some of the powers he has early on in his appearances, such as super speed, super hearing, x-ray vision, super strength, and being able to jump high/far. He’s a bit older here though, 12 instead of 10 making him closer to Damian’s age and allowing him to go to the same school as him and Tilly. He holds his dad’s lessons close and seems to be apprehensive about seriously hurting people, mainly in the beginning. Being older though, he’s a bit more mature than his counterpart was before he was aged up, and I feel that this version of Jon is a good blend between the two.

Damian Wayne on the other hand was given the most changes in terms of backstory and how he acts, which goes hand-in-hand. In the original continuity, he was raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, making him spoiled and a literal killer in the body of a child. Here, he was raised by Bruce (how or why, I don’t know. Talia wasn’t brought up until book 3 so I can only assume she gave him to Bruce as a baby and they agreed to never tell him for whatever reason) and Bruce refuses to let him be Robin, leaving Damian to become Batkid (which is a good reference to past incarnations of Batman’s son in older Elseworlds stories). He’s still arrogant and looks for a fight more than he should, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to kill. Beat up a guy who is already out of the fight, yes, but not kill. One thing people who’ve read the books will notice is I’ve been calling him Damian. Well, that’s out of habit; in this series he is pretty adamant about everyone calling him Ian. Why? Again, I don’t know, and part of me is bothered by it because we never find out why he hates his name. I can only assume Pearson had things planned that would explain this a bit more but had to cut them out due to page constraints.

Tilly is one of the characters made for this series, taking the name Puppet Girl as her secret idenity. She’s Jon’s friend and classmate, and is a computer expert, allowing for her to help the team from home until they need her to fly one of Bruce’s machines to them. She hangs around Jon a lot due to going to the same school and because both of them are interning for the Daily Planet. In all honesty, she reminds me of Kathy from before it’s revealed she has powers and is actually an alien since she acts as Jon’s best friend who isn’t Damian, as well as a girl who Jon might have a crush on or vice versa. The blond hair and the purple-pink outfit scheme doesn’t help.

Candace is our final main character and the second character made for this series. We meet her in the books before we meet Jon and Damian, and her story plays a huge role in the overall plot. Candace has been following a string of clues her mother left her shortly before her death, and we learn as the comic goes on that she’s meant to be the next Empress of her home country, Landis, but was forced to flee to Coleumbria when her family was usurped by a general. Over time, she unlocks her power to communicate and control birds, and later to control the weather. I found myself enjoying her story just as much, if not more than the plots that surrounded the title characters, which helps since her story is intertwined with theirs. If I had to compare her to an existing character in the DC canon, I’d say Wonder Woman due to her super human abilities and her being royalty.

THE ART

The art is also good, definitely better than what I can do. However, a complaint I do have is that the characters feel stiff and rigid. It might be the art style, but something felt off at times, mainly with the posing. Again, it’s still better than what I can do, but I feel like it could have been better. I did like how the backgrounds were vibrant and you could tell where the characters were just from a look, and the art is more detailed in general compared to other young reader graphic novels DC has been putting out. Art is pretty subjective, so I’m not going to go into this too much and a lot of these are my own opinions.

The art has come into debate as well, though not for the reasons I mentioned above. When previews for the first book started to be released, a lot of people were critical toward Candace and Damian, particularly toward their skin color. In the preview images, Candace was shown to have a blue-ish-gray tint (you can probably see why this didn’t go over well) and Damian was shown to be paler than Jon (Damian is shown in the original DC canon to be half Arabic and even though he was sometimes shown to have pale skin like Bruce’s, he was also shown to have a tanner complexion due to his mother’s side. Most fan interpretations as a result more often than not have him with tanned skin). After fan outcry, this was fixed with Candace getting a more natural skin tone and Damian’s being brought down to a darker shade than Jon’s. With Damian’s it’s more apparent in the second and third books since in the first one I did notices there were a few panels where his skin tone would be lighter than in others which makes me wonder if it was a last-minute recolor for the first book’s release.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I’d say it’s okay. It’s not great, it’s not bad; just okay. I honestly think that if Pearson and Gonzalez hadn’t been given a page limit then it could have been better since the pacing wouldn’t be as big of an issue and they would have been able to get through all of the mini arcs they had set up. They obviously wanted to tell a bigger story but were only given so much room to work with.

It’s obviously not for everyone, and it’s definitely not the Super Sons people like me have grown up with, but that’s okay. Some of the kids I used to babysit who fall into the range of “I’ve never really read DC comics and only ever saw a cartoon episode on TV” read these books too and they liked it. Same thing for the few kids who did have prior experience with the Super Sons. What dragged them in was the climate crisis and (for the ones who read them after the world went into a lockdown) the fact the characters were trying to find a cure for a virus that was similar to the flu. Yeah, and these were written way before 2020, so that’s actually an achievement on Pearson’s part.

You don’t have to like them; heck, I didn’t really have any interest in them because of the backlash from people like me until my friends started asking me to make this review. But maybe give them a chance. Find a kid in your family or friend group and see if they’d be interested, maybe you can read it together once the craziness of the last year’s calmed down.

[cartoon-savant]

Ducktales "Let's Get Dangerous" Watch Ramblings

Okay, so. That was amazing.

WHO DID THIS!? WHAT MAD GENIUS SNIPED IN BONKERS!? I CAME TO THIS PARTY FOR SPECIFICALLY INFORMED FUN AND THEN THE HOST JUST THROWS GOLD AT MY FACE!!

- The episode feels like a proper dedication to everything Darkwing Duck. The atmosphere of St.Canard still feels like Gotham City so much. If Launchpad is doing double time moving between Duckberg daytime and St.Canard nighttime it’ll hold that vibe the city and DW have. But I can’t help but believe this is the start of his transition to St.Canard. The responsibilities may just be too big to juggle together. Also, this found family of Drake, Launchpad, and Gosalyn is just too good together. Like Launchpad creates a different vibe for himself when he’s with him. He just taps into a whole different side to care for and support them.

-  So yeah, I’m glad Darkwing is still somewhat underappreciated in St.Canard since it didn’t seem like anyone knows about his efforts in the lab. Gizmoduck didn’t even make it halfway across the bridge into the city and gets all the credit. So now we get to see DW work towards that recognition he deserves.

- It was the best blending of nostalgia and new age. They drop a massive Easter egg in one of my favorite scenes, from one of my favorite episodes “A Whale of A Bad Time”, of my favorite story arc where Scrooge and Glomgold race to deliver their fortunes for weighing in a bet to win a lucrative contract. Also love the Fluppy Dogs shot-out. Wasn’t my jam but I gotta respect that attention given.

- F.O.W.L. involvement made the Missing Mysteries tie-in more logical. Huey is getting more involved here since this season is supposed to be this triplet’s turn in the spotlight. I bet this encounter spurs him into action now that F.O.W.L. is exposed to have interest in the mysteries. Speaking of exposed, poor Bradford. Like he would be more successful in his organized bureaucratic villainy if everyone who works for him didn’t revel in the theatrics.

- With Taurus Bulba falling out with F.O.W.L. it leaves me to believe he’ll stay in St. Canard to be a recurring villain for him. If he keeps the “Bulba’s Super Villain Solutions” thing I expect something like the Spectacular Spiderman animated series. Like Norman Osborn he’ll turn out villains for profit while acting behind the scenes and exploiting the chaos. Bonus points if his cybernetic enhancements keep coming in via collateral damage like with Major Bludd in G.I. Joe: Renegades. Since only Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator, and Bushroot seem to be the only returning OG villains (aside from a couple of cool cameos from some C-Listers, haha) now the writers have a nice say in picking and choosing who gets rolled into the reboot reality. Negaduck is basically confirmed as a reboot villain now since they called themselves the Fearsome Four and Justice Ducks got a name drop but not who’s in it. Gizmoduck was a member but is here as a reboot character and they can just grab Neptunia, Stegmutt and Morgana. Real talk, they’ll probably redo all their designs but I hope we keep Morgana’s vibe close to her original which had such a wonderful goofy Elvira feel. Also let’s get a good Batman/Catwoman thing going.

- Bushroot’s redesign and dialogue silence may have been out of respect to his original voice actor Tino Insana’s passing, also the same year the Ducktales reboot came out. Everyone else is alive but the only reprised role was Michael Bell’s Quackerjack and everyone sounded great. Still hope he left like a seedling clone of himself behind so we can explore more of him.

- Gosalyn was well handled. I loved her reboot personality still feeling like OG but with more smarts and skill. Giving her skill with a crossbow was great (she gets a matching outfit and Huntress much) as well as leaning into the Batman & Robin parallels by making her a proper partner/sidekick, instead of a stubborn tag-along.  I want to see her meet Webby because I feel like she will complete a certain dynamic. Webby is an all rounder being good with magic, quite smart and a top fighter. Webby doesn’t hold top mark in any particular area. Lena is basically becoming sorceress supreme and Violet is very intelligent and composed with her reading situations better than the others. So I want Gosalyn to be surprisingly good at keeping up with Webby in a fight.

The second other series that may actually get this kind of dedication in the reboot feels to me like Talespin.

- We have plenty of mentions of Cape Suzette and a Don Karnage. I say “a” because the Season 3 poster revealed what looked like an older Kit and Molly. This leads me to believe the OG Talespin adventures do take place decades prior to closer match the aesthetics of the OGand current era Karnage is a descendant. Della may have also learned to pilot from or was a fan of Baloo so that can be a good background to add to her character. I feel like Shere Khan will be a David Xanatos type character. He was already a fierce, morally ambiguous self serving businessman. But give him that Xanatos pizazz, keen intellect and foresight to make him be the sharpest of the sharpies that Scrooge will ever deal with.

- So all in all it was everything I didn’t know I wanted and gives me such joy for heights this show can reach being this successful in its ambition. I hope further inclusions from other Disney Afternoon characters will start building themselves up in this reboot just as well. I’m excited for more of the world explored from the sides of the Rescue Rangers and Goofy’s suburban slice of life. Oh, and of course cop/detective work from freaking Bonkers! Like this is how you know your reboot is in good hands. When you keep the appeal of and appreciate the old while introducing well defined new takes, bridging the gap between generations so everyone enjoys it. Man, I need that Animaniacs reboot right now.

[mooitstimdrake]

new to dc and batfam shit... do u know what cómics like have batfam stuff in them? also when was it that dick suggested arkham to tim?

I’ll start by addressing your second question first! Hmm I think “Dick suggesting Arkham to Tim” probably refers to Tim’s belief that Bruce is alive post- Batman RIP and throughout Red Robin. Basically, Dick thought Tim needed professional help dealing with his grief after losing Bruce, and that he had created some elaborate delusion to deal with it. This was one of the things that ultimately drove Tim away from Dick and the rest of the family.

so I have to admit that I haven’t been caught up on comics in a long time, and I’m not too familiar with newer characters (Duke Thomas) and newer canons (Rebirth). I’m much more familiar with Preboot comics and New 52 comics. If you have questions about these terms, I’d be happy to make another post to explain!

If you’re new to DC, I definitely recommend watching some cartoons. I grew up with them, so I’ve always been familiar with DC, and I think it helps with transitioning to comics. I’d recommend 

Batman: The Animated Series (+ tie in movies)

The New Batman Adventures (+ tie in movies)

Teen Titans

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited

Some other good older (90s/2000s) cartoons include

Static Shock

Batman Beyond

The Batman (+ tie in movie Return of the Joker)

I’d also really recommend Young Justice!

And if you like Teen Titans and don’t mind things being lighthearted and silly, you may like Teen Titans Go! It’s not my favorite, but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy some episodes.

ANYWAY! Back to comics!

So before I start recommending comics, I highly recommend checking out wikis (or something like ComicVine) about characters you’re interested in! Most likely when you read, there will be references to other arcs and characters you may not know anything about, and it helps to know what’s up by looking it up reading a quick summary. Crossover events happen, and they can be a nightmare to navigate.

So @lornahs​ has an amazing ‘where to start’ list that I would recommend, and I’ll include the links she has for each character as well! Plus I’ll include some of my own recs!

Starting with Batman/Bruce Wayne comics:

Preboot

Batman: Year One

The Long Halloween

Dark Victory

New 52

Batman: Zero Year

Note: My Batman recs are p short, but he’s in most of the other Batfam recs anyway, and I’ve included some ensemble comics at the bottom that often heavily feature Bruce. But if you want more solo Batman content,  you may enjoy Batman or Detective Comics comics (both are so long running I’m not sure where to tell you to start with them).

Next: Dick Grayson/Robin I/Nightwing/Batman II

Preboot

Robin: Year One*

Robin: The Gauntlet

Nightwing: Year One

Nightwing (1996-2009)

Battle for the Cowl

Batman and Robin v1

Gates of Gotham

The Black Mirror

New 52

Nightwing

Grayson

Note: I haven’t included any ensemble comics here, but Dick has been a part of many teams, such as the Teen Titans, Titans, and Outsiders to name a few.

Next: Barbara Gordon/Batgirl I/Oracle

Preboot

Batgirl: Year One*

New 52

Batgirl (2011)

Batgirl (2016)

Note: I haven’t read a lot of Babs! I’m mostly familiar with her as Batgirl through cartoons, and as Oracle throughout other batfam comics. You can also find more Babs in Birds of Prey!

Next: Jason Todd/Robin II/Red Hood

Preboot

Batman #412-425

Batman #426-429 (A Death in the Family)

Red Hood: The Lost Days*

Batman: Under the Hood*

New 52

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Rebirth

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Next: Tim Drake/Robin III/Red Robin

Preboot

Batman #440-442 (A Lonely Place of Dying)

Batman #443-445

Batman #448-449

Batman #455-457

Robin*

Red Robin*

Note: Tim often appears on teams especially lately since DC doesn’t know what to do with him. He was a founding member of Young Justice (1998), and he had his own iteration of Teen Titans, both in Preboot and in the New 52.

Next: Cassandra Cain/Batgirl II/Black Bat

Preboot

Batman 556-559

Batgirl v1

Batgirl v2

Robin/Batgirl: First Blood*

Rebirth

Batman Eternal

Next: Stephanie Brown/Spoiler/Robin IV/Batgirl III

Also this link!

Preboot

Detective Comics #647-649

Robin #126-128

Batgirl v3

Rebirth

Batman Eternal

Note: the above links are much more comprehensive than mine! Again, I haven’t read a ton of Steph!

Next: Damian Wayne/Robin V

Preboot

Batman and Son (#655-658, 663-666)

The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul*

Batman R.I.P.

Battle for the Cowl

Batman and Robin v1

Streets of Gotham*

New 52

Batman and Robin v2*

Rebirth

Teen Titans (2016)

Super Sons

And here are a few characters I’m not as familiar with, but who are important!

Kate Kane/Batwoman

Harper Row/Blue Bird

Duke Thomas/ Robin VI (?)/ The Signal

Note: there’s a lot more content for Duke now than I or this link can suggest, I encourage you to look into comics like All Star Batman (2017) or Batman and the Signal

Additional ensemble comics:

 Preboot

Batman: Cataclysm

Batman: No Man’s Land

Batman: Hush*

New 52

Court of Owls*

Night of the Owls*

Death of the Family*

Rebirth

Batman Eternal

Batman and Robin Eternal

Other Batfam who primarily exist outside of the primary canon but who everyone knows anyway:

Carrie Kelley

Helena Wayne

Terry McGinnis

This list is far from complete, so I suggest you ask around or do your own research, especially when it comes to characters I didn’t have much familiarity with! I hope this helped!

[loubuggins]

Titans S2 - E1 Review

Spoilers below the cut!

So Season 2 picked up with where S1 left off, as was expected. I have to say, I would have much preferred everything that happened in the first two-thirds of the episode to have been in its own season finale for S1. I think most of the problems I had could have been solved with the extra time they would have had if they had made the end of the first season actually happen in the first season. It's more evident than ever that the crew were blind-sided by having a renewal of their show and their lack of confidence there is concerning. Though probably valid given how many kinks season one had. I do have to applaud the writer for listening to feedback given by the majority of fans and making the show more lighthearted and wholesome. I can only hope the cinematographers will follow suit next season, given as they obviously ignored the outcry against the de-saturating filters. 

I know many people were hoping for a new title sequence, as was I, but at this point that detail is something I hardly care about and really should not be a deal breaker for people. It's just a title. 

The beginning of the episode I thought started off strong. Right away, I could see the improvement in the script. There was loads of solid dialogue, some funny, some heartwarming, some heartbreaking. There were a few scenes that lacked that luster for me, but I’ll get into those later. For now, let's focus on some of the positives.

I knew from the synopsis of the episode that there would be some great moments between Gar and Rachel, and boy was I pleased with what I got! Gar immediately jumps into action and tries to get Rachel to safety. As a longtime BBRae shipper, I definitely appreciated seeing more of Gar’s protective nature. The haunted factor of the house and Dick chasing them was actually more amusing than anything else and Gar shouting “Real life horror movie” as he’s running down the stairs did not help make this part any more suspenseful. However, Kory, Donna, and Jason’s nightmares brought out the sense of doom and thrill. 

I loved the angst of this episode! Kory being tested once again with the choice to kill, Donna getting some backstory (and a tragic one at that), and the foreshadowing of Jason’s transformation into the Redhood where all great ways to push these characters into the darkness. Donna’s was a little rushed, but I do like that they were brief and I wish Dick’s nightmare (that took up the entire last episode of season one) had been the same way. 

The biggest punch to the gut in this episode was when Gar was beaten to a pulp. First Young Justice and now Titans? Can DC please stop making “beating up Gar” a trend? But in all seriousness, it was actually for the best. Gar being hurt or dying as always been Raven’s breaking point and it was refreshing to see this dynamic played out in the show. Gar is Rachel’s light, her path out of the darkness. Having that light go out is exactly what would drive her to the evil within her. So bravo Titans writers! 

I also want to praise how Gar was treated as someone more than simple comedic relief. I know that was a common complaint amongst fans last season, so it was a true pleasure to see him play a significant role in the story. Gar was the hero! If he hadn’t rose from the dead, Rachel would never have snapped out of it long enough to stop her father. So it was really Gar who saved the day and that’s huge for such an underappreciated character! I’m so glad my favorite character finally had his chance in the spotlight. 

The BBRae montage was also a very BIG deal for me. Gar was finally able to shift into a new animal (a snake, how biblical) and slithered his way up to a demon-possessed Rachel. He was able to turn back and take her hand, triggering a series of moments the two of them shared throughout the first season. Ryan’s acting once again blew me out of the water and his “Come back to me” to Rachel had me in tears. It was a beautiful scene and one that is now on the top of my favorite scenes list. The only shortcoming in this scene was after he snapped Rachel out of her trace, she hardly blinked an eye at him. Here’s her best friend, bleeding and bruised, back from the dead, and she couldn’t take a second to give him a hug? She caused the end of the world when he died, so her lack of emotion at seeing his return was unconvincing and I’m not sure you to blame for it - the actress, the writers, or the producers? Maybe a combination of the three. Even if she didn’t react in that very moment, she had plenty of time afterwards to say something. Even subtle things, like rubbing his back, holding his hand, asking him how he’s feeling. Any or all of these would have been appropriate. Gar has went through A LOT for Rachel, so I really hope she shows her appreciation sooner rather than later this season. 

Moving on from that, the defeat of Trigon was anticlimactic and could have been much more dramatic if it had been done differently. I would say rushing through the Terror of Trigon arc in the first season was a bad move. The first season is about build-up and they had very little of that, which affected the outcome of the final battle. I’ve been told that Trigon will be back and I’m sure he will be, but I hope next time the show takes the time to build up to the final battle. 

Going into the last third of the show, I was pleased and entertained. Already, Deathstroke seems like a more intriguing villain than Trigon. Again, I wish this part of the episode was the beginning of season two. If this were its own episode, we could have had more set up for the season. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Dick travel across the country with the kids. That would have been adorable and I hope for it in bonus footage later on. Iain Glen’s protral of the Dark Knight was boring to be honest. Not at all how I would imagine Batman. I’m counting on him not being around much this season. 

I’m super hyped to see where Kory and Donna end up going. I have a feeling there mini adventure will be very entertaining. Hawk and Dove were once again pointless in this episode and I hope they stay out of the way this season. Jason was actually interesting and fun, so I hope to see good things from him. Now that Dick has most of his Daddy-issues past him, I’ll be most interested to see how he transitions into Nightwing and to see what role Kory plays in that, since she was vital to this in the comics. Then lastly, I hope to see Gar and Rachel’s relationship deepened and fleshed out more. As I said before, I need Gar’s sacrifices and pains to be addressed and for Rachel to show some more empathy to her best friend. 

Overall, I feel good about this episode and I have high hopes for the rest of the season. The improvements they made were substantial and worth wild. Gar’s face as he is looking at where the previous Titans once hung their uniforms is priceless and if I get more scenes like that, I will be one happy camper. There are still some hiccups, but I’m really looking forward to seeing the show progress. My rating for this episode is 8/10.  

[wwwps4]

Spider-Man

Marvel's Spider-Man from Insomniac Games is one of the most anticipated games of 2018, but did the developers manage to create the best project in the history of video games about this defender of new York and, most importantly, meet the expectations of players? Let's take it all in order. It is worth noting that the author of the review played on an ordinary PlayStation 4 (Slim), so the screenshots are made on it, and the impressions are based on this version. The article was written after receiving the platinum prize, which means that the opinion will be weighted as much as possible.

Marvel's Spider-Man, an action-adventure game developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4, was first unveiled on June 13, 2016 at E3 electronic entertainment. And now, after a little more than two years, we can enjoy it on our own.

You don't need wings to fly

The game greets newcomers with a smooth transition from the opening cut scene to the gameplay, resulting in you being in the air while flying on a web. After learning which button is responsible for throwing the web in the direction of buildings (R2), there is an instant habituation to this method of movement. It seems that you have not just launched the game, but are a veteran of it. Swinging on the web works exactly as it should in terms of convenience and realism. At this time, the character moves in an arc and maintains inertia, so you can slow down the flight or, conversely, increase its speed by using a jump at different times. If you constantly hold R2, Spider-Man will automatically release a new web and move forward. Similarly, it is easy and fast to change the direction of movement: when you press the jump button during a free fall, the main character will perform a jerk on the web, which will allow you to accelerate in the right direction. As previously stated, the web clings strictly to real objects, not to air, unlike many previous Spider games. Therefore, in places with low buildings, you will have to go down, and in Central Park you will have to cling to trees, being on the verge of hitting your heels on the ground. By the way, in order not to wait for the protagonist to fall to the height where it will again be possible to use the web, you can accelerate in the fall by clicking on the left stick.

The movement system is designed so that the dynamics of movement around the city is maintained at the same pace. Thus, if the character runs into a skyscraper, then when holding R2, it will continue to move along it in the selected direction without stopping. While running on a horizontal surface, the same button will allow you to overcome obstacles using parkour without additional manipulations. Jerks on the web, among other things, while running vertically will help to reach the roof as quickly as possible, and immediately after push off from it, continuing the path. Some of these techniques can be opened as you level up spider-Man, acquiring the appropriate skills.

The project is completely translated into the great and mighty, and in General, the Russian voice acting is not so bad, but in some places its quality is greatly reduced. But the fact that it will not be changed separately from the subtitles will probably shock some players. The only option left is to change the console language, but the whole game will be in English.

No longer a novice

Insomniac Games Studio decided to focus on an experienced superhero, who has more than one year of practice, but the plot of the game is independent. Of course, you will meet familiar characters here, but the story will develop in a new way. However, on August 21 of this year, the official prequel of this game was released in the form of a novel authored by American writer David Liss, which was subtitled Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover. Unfortunately, at the moment the book is only available in the original, in English. It tells the story of Wilson Fisk's return to new York, where he appears as a philanthropist to the public. Peter Parker knows very well the true face of Kingpin, so he will have to bring it to light. But not everything is so simple, because at the same time in the city there is a double of Spider-Man under the pseudonym Blood Spider, with a similar costume and abilities, which substitutes the hero, committing crimes. The game's plot begins at the very moment when the book ends.

Avoiding disclosure of details of the plot, so as not to spoil the impression of the readers of the article, I will only Express my opinion about it after full passage. The scenario is generally good, but, unfortunately, quite predictable and not surprising. But the animation of the characters and the environment is very lively, and the setting of plot tasks is performed at the highest level. Because of this, it is quite interesting to take a direct part in the development of history. However, the boss battles were somewhat disappointing. They look spectacular, but feel too scripted and ordinary, unlike the rest of the game. It is clear that the project puts a lot of emphasis on cinematography, but it would be possible to implement them more rich in gameplay terms. Sometimes you have to fight several strong mutants at the same time, which looks pretty cool, but again, the gameplay seems to be in the background. It is not surprising that the health scale is displayed only for the protagonist, even during a boss battle.

Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-Man is not the only playable character in Marvel's Spider-Man. In the story, you will also have to take control of a couple of other actors, which radically changes the gameplay and makes the game more diverse. As a rule, in scenes with them, you need to act covertly. It should be emphasized that the control between the characters is also transferred during the same episode to, say, help your friend. This is not new in video games, but nevertheless, this solution is quite interesting. During the game, not so often, but there are QTE, and the transition from cut scenes to the gameplay is performed imperceptibly.

During tasks and in the lab at Peter Parker's place of work, there are two types of puzzles. In the first, it is necessary to make an electric chain of components, where the voltage often has to be taken into account. The latter are aimed at recognizing an unknown substance by the absorption spectrum. In them, you need to take fragments of an unknown substance and try to combine its absorption lines with the template.

The storm of the underworld

Battles in Marvel's Spider-Man are one of the most important components of the gameplay. When creating the combat system, the developers were probably inspired by the Batman: Arkham series, since they have obvious similarities. However, unlike Batman, Spider-Man uses more acrobatic techniques, relying on his enviable dexterity. However, he often uses a web and lifts opponents into the air, continuing the battle there. What is important, fights look like a continuous dance, in which one movement smoothly flows into another.

You can instantly eliminate enemies when they don't see you, or when you accumulate a concentration scale, use the suit function, or use the Spider's cunning devices, which will be described in more detail later. Several types of knockouts are used for undetected elimination. To perform a silent knockout, you need to sneak up on the enemy from behind. For a web strike, you must be above the target. In addition, you can discreetly eliminate an opponent by wrapping it in a cocoon and hanging it, for example, on the edge of a roof or on a street lighting pole.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)

If you’ve always wanted to see Beast Boy beat up Superman, that’s not what you’re getting in Justice League vs. Teen Titans. That’s alright. This may be a flawed film - certainly not the strongest in this series of DC Animated features - but it’s still pretty good.

Robin/Damian Wayne (Stuart Allan) is sent to hone his superhero skills with the Teen Titans, a rag-tag group of super-powered youngsters. When the Justice League is overwhelmed by a mysterious demonic force, Raven (Taissa Farmiga), Robin, Beast Boy (Brandon Soo Hoo), Starfire (Kari Wahlgren), and Blue Beetle (Jake T. Austin) team up with Cyborg (Shemar Moore) to deal with this new threat.

This isn't an instance where the cover lies completely but there aren't a whole lot of scenes of Superman fighting the Teen Titans. If you've been following each "episode" of this story, you won't mind too much because we finally get to see this universe's version of the Titans. Their character dynamics are interesting, their abilities are cool, and being vastly underpowered compared to the likes of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Superman, Batman, and the others, raises the stakes. There’s a different level of tension when these heroes with something to prove face off against the big bad.

To be clear, this iteration of the Titans is unrelated to those we've seen in past animated series. There are missed opportunities in that respect, but the film also gets many elements right. Starfire and Beast Boy both shine. Cyborg being bumped up to a member of the Justice League means Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle is a mainstay and he’s a great fit. The real gems of this story, however, are Robin and Raven. The boy wonder's character development continues to pay off in this new adventure. As for Raven, she is well fleshed out. She truly feels like a teenage superhero, someone who's often insecure, caught in a transitional period of her life, and given plenty of opportunities to show off her powers.

The animation is pretty good (not quite as good as 2014’s Assault on Arkham but better than in Justice League: War). The character designs are terrific. Unfortunately, the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. There's so much clumsy exposition. I wish Warner Brothers would charge a dollar or two more per Blu-ray so they could make these animated films just 15 minutes longer and give these stories a bit of time to breathe. This would reduce the need to have characters just tell each other (and the audience) what’s going on. It’s also obvious that the voice actors did not record their lines simultaneously, resulting in conversations that always feel slightly off.

After Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League vs. Teen Titans is a disappointment. Then again, it’s miles above Throne of Atlantis and Justice League: War. With a scene during the end credits hinting at a sequel, I have no guilt about giving this film a recommendation despite the now-familiar story (we've seen the big bad several times now) and certain technical aspects that leave a bit to be desired. The special features included make this a nice package worth picking up. (On Blu-ray, June 28, 2016)

[dentpx]

1-21 minus the once u already got, BITCH!

OH MY GOD KJDFBDHFDF ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. LOVE YOU AND PUTTING THIS UNDER A READ MORE!

1. What’s the most depressing movie you’ve ever watched?Definitely My Life As A Zucchini. It’s a really sweet claymation movie about children and found family that, while it still has a happy ending, made me cry so hard and still makes me cry whenever I rewatch it. It lost the Best Animated Feature Oscar to Zootopia in 2016, and it’s a robbery that has me reeling to this day. (It’s on Netflix right now, go watch it everyone!)

2. What’s the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched?Ahh I haven’t seen a lot of horror movies so I guess Hereditary? It’s the most visually disturbing I’ve seen, at least. Rosemary’s Baby would probably take most psychologically disturbing.

3. An actor/actress you’ve seen in more than 8 movies? Name the movies.If I’m cheating; Emma Watson - Harry Potter films + Beauty and the BeastIf I’m not cheating; Jim Carrey -  the Truman Show, the Mask, Dumb and Dumber, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Batman Forever, Liar Liar, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Man On The Moon, Ace Venture: When Nature Calls, The Cable Guy, etc. etc. I know this comes off like I’m a really big Jim Carrey stan, but I’m not, it’s my Dad…so I’ve seen a lot of his stuff lol. 

4. A film you could watch on repeat for the rest of your life?Moulin Rouge! I liked this movie so much when I saw it that I watched it again the next day and again a week later. It’s a lot of fun, has a lot of hidden meaning, and is overall just a very good movie with a bangin’ sound track, and I will defend it until I die.

5. What’s the very first film you remember watching?The Rescuers. From Disney’s Animation Bronze Age, it certainly fits right in with Disney’s trend of darker and more implicitly grounded stories, and it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I used to watch it all the time as a kid. It was probably my second favorite movie, behind Robin Hood.

8. Which book would you like to see adapted into a film?This is a hard one because most of the books I want adapted have already been adapted! I suppose, and this is cheating, The Handmaid’s Tale. I want a movie with a female director and a female writer and Margaret Atwood as a consultant!

9. The most aesthetically pleasing movie you’ve ever watched?The Grand Budapest Hotel, easily. 

10. What’s your favourite movie director?François Truffaut! I know that sounds pretentious but he’s genuinely one of my biggest inspirations, it’s really clear from his interviews that he understands film very deeply and I admire how he lived through the transition from black and white to color films. He was a great writer and a great director and it is truly a loss that he has passed.

11. Your favourite movie genre?I’m more partial to film movements than genres, but I do love a good drama.

12. A movie that holds a special place in your heart?Just, any Winnie the Pooh movie. I had a very personal connection to the books as a kid - I had a whole ass collection of ALL of  A. A. Milne’s works for children that I must have read dozens of times, and I would always cry when I finished it, and the movies were no different. True story, when I went to go see the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in theaters, I almost debated skipping it to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie instead. I didn’t end up skipping Harry Potter, but I rented the Winnie the Pooh movie when it got released on Redbox, and I did still cry a ridiculous amount at the finish. Alllll through the credits. 

13. Your favourite comedy film?Burn After Reading! I have no idea why people don’t like this movie, it is absolutely hilarious! Fun fact, the Coen brothers wrote this while they were writing No Country For Old Men to destress, which is about the most iconic thing I’ve ever heard.

14. A music video you would love to see developed into a film?Cheating but, hey, Gorillaz film! Please! Please oh my god I would go and see a Gorillaz movie SO hard!

15. A film everyone loves but you hate?Pacific Rim. I’m…still writing my Letterboxd review for this movie because I wanna make sure I don’t get anything wrong but I still want to express the level at which I didn’t really enjoy it. I think the plot got hyped up for me wayyy too much, because I felt that it was a competent mech/monster battle movie, but not so much a compelling action/adventure drama movie. Ehh. It looked very good, at least.

16. A film you love but everyone else hates?EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…..Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. It was a good movie and even if I won’t defend the DCEU on other stuff anymore I will always defend BvS on the grounds of it being a good fucking movie that got absolutely crucified for no damn reason. 

17. Which cinematic universe would you like to live in?Harry Potter Cinematic Universe, baby! They made it into movies so it counts, I’m a wizard ‘Arry!

18. What’s your favourite biopic?Amadeus. I know it’s more fictionalized than some other biopics, but it’s really a stunning movie in every possible way. It’s honestly an incredible watch, especially for me, someone who is bad at and thus has an aversion towards History and heavily historically based movies lmao.

19. Mainstream movies or indie movies?Indie movies any day of the week. Mainstream movies always let me down and usually have a scandal involved. Indie movies let me down a lot less and usually look nicer and have better writing. The trade-off of less big names for higher quality is worth it.

20. Old movies or contemporary movies?This is really hard! I’m gonna say contemporary movies because more of my favorite films are more recent, UNLESS it’s something from the French New Wave in which case old movies win out. 

21. A film with an amazing soundtrack?Juno or Lady Bird are both amazing movies in their own right, and they both have a fabulous sound track. Lady Bird’s sountrack is a little more varied than Juno’s, but it’s all good stuff.

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: January 2021

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It’s a new year and everyone wants to put the vile cesspool that was 2020 behind them. Thankfully, HBO Max is coming out swinging to make the transition out of the hellyear even easier. HBO Max’s list of new releases for January 2021 is positively packed with notable film releases and even a fun HBO Max Original or two.

For starters, Search Party season 4 will arrive to HBO Max on Jan. 14. This season of the show with a now-surprising lifespan finds Dory Sief in the thrall of a deranged stalker…right after getting off on murder charges. These Brooklynites lead such fascinating lives! The other major original or note is the HBO documentary Tiger, that premieres on Jan. 10 and will delve into the complicated history of golfing legend Tiger Woods.

The real story this month, however, are the movies. Perhaps emboldened by its success with Wonder Woman 1984, HBO Max is filling up its servers with as many Warner properties that it can find. The Dark Knight trilogy, Blade, Chinatown, The Exorcist, Mad Max: Fury Road, No Country for Old Men, and Pulp Fiction all arrive on Jan. 1. Poltergeist and Stephen King’s It (1990) make things spooky on Jan. 15. Then the month closes out with, quite simply, the greatest movie of all time: The Mummy (1999). The downside here is that some of these are limited engagements, with the aforementioned WW1984, Blade, Ocean’s Eleven, and more all leaving at month’s end.

Still, January 2021 will provide plenty of filmic fun on HBO Max. Here is the full list for your perusal.

HBO Max New Releases – January 2021

January 1 12 oz. Mouse, Seasons 1-2 42nd Street, 1933 All the President’s Men, 1976 Apple & Onion, Season 1B The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, 1974 (HBO) Batman Begins, 2005 Batman Beyond Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, 2000 Batman: Bad Blood, 2016 Batman: Death in the Family, 2020 Batman: Hush, 2019 Batman: The Animated Series Blade, 1998 A Better Life, 2011 (HBO) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005 Dog Day Afternoon, 1975 Check It Out! with Steve Brule Chinatown, 1974 Codename: Kids Next Door The Color Purple, 1985 The Conjuring, 2013 Courage the Cowardly Dog Craig of the Creek, Season 2 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, 2002 (HBO) The Dark Knight, 2008 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 Dim Sum Funeral, 2009 (HBO) Ed, Edd n Eddy El Amor No Puede Esperar (Aka Love Can’t Wait), 2021 (HBO) Happy Feet, 2006 The Electric Horseman, 1979 (HBO) Escape from New York, 1981 The Exorcist, 1973 Flashpoint, 1984 (HBO) The General’s Daughter, 1999 (HBO) Gossip Girl Green Lantern, 2011 Green Lantern: The Animated Series Gremlins, 1984 Gremlins 2: The New Batch, 1990 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Happily N’Ever After, 2007 (HBO) Happily N’Ever After 2: Snow White, 2009 (HBO) Happy-Go-Lucky, 2008 (HBO) He Said She Said, 1991 (HBO) Heaven Help Us, 1985 (HBO) The Infamous Future, 2018 Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, 2001 (HBO) The Jellies Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, 2020 Kong: Skull Island, 2017 Little Con Lili, 2021 (HBO) Loiter Squad Ma, 2019 (HBO) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, 1983 Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015 Magic Mike, 2012 Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart March of the Penguins, 2005 Margaret, 2011 (Extended Version) (HBO) Miracle On 34th Street, 1994 (HBO) Miss Firecracker, 1989 (HBO) Mulholland Dr., 2001 Mystic River, 2003 Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D, 2012 (HBO) No Country for Old Men, 2007 The Notebook, 2004 Ocean’s 8, 2018 Ocean’s Eleven, 2001 Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007 Ocean’s Twelve, 2004 Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, 1985 Piter, 2021 (HBO) The Producers, 1968 Pulp Fiction, 1994 Purple Rain, 1984 Ready Player One, 2018 Revenge Of The Nerds, 1984 (HBO) Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise, 1987 (HBO) Revenge Of The Nerds IV: Nerds In Love, 2005 (HBO) Rollerball, 2002 (HBO) Se7en, 1995 Shallow Hal, 2001 (HBO) Snowpiercer, Season 1 A Star is Born, 2018 Superman: Doomsday, 2007 Superman: Man of Tomorrow, 2020 Superman Returns, 2006 Swimfan, 2002 (HBO) This Is Spinal Tap, 1984 The Three Stooges, 2012 (HBO) TMNT, 2007 Tom Goes to the Mayor The Trouble With Spies, 1987 (HBO) Underclassman, 2005 (HBO) V for Vendetta, 2005 Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Extended Version), 2009 (HBO) Walk Of Shame, 2014 (HBO) Warrior, Seasons 1-2 (HBO) Willard, 1971 (HBO) Worth Winning, 1989 (HBO) You Can Count On Me, 2000 (HBO)

January 2 The High Note, 2020 (HBO)

January 4 30 Coins, Series Premiere (HBO)

January 8 Patriot’s Day, 2016 Scream, 1996 Squish, Season 1

January 9 The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, Season 2 Ben 10, Season 4A The King Of Staten Island, 2020 (HBO)

January 10 Miracle Workers, Season 2 Tiger, Two-Part Documentary Premiere (HBO)

January 12 Against The Wild, 2014 Against the Wild 2: Survive the Serengeti, 2016 Alpha and Omega 5: Family Vacation, 2015 Alpha and Omega 6: Dino Digs, 2016 Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World, 2015 Blue Valentine, 2010 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, 2000 Earth Girls Are Easy, 1989 An Elephant’s Journey, 2018 The Escape Artist, 1982 Get Carter, 1971 Hecho En Mexico, 2012 Hellboy: Blood and Iron, 2007 Hellboy: Sword of Storms, 2006 Hellboy: The Dark Below, 2010 Jennifer Lopez: Dance Again, 2016 The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, 1976 The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, 2013 La Mujer de Mi Hermano, 2005 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Amazing Word Explorers, 2015 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Counting on Lemonade, 2014 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: The Letter Machine Rescue Team, 2014 Leapfrog: Numberland, 2012 Lost and Delirious, 2001 Love and Sex, 2000 Lovely & Amazing, 2002 The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Meatballs, 1979 The Men Who Stare at Goats, 2009 A Mermaid’s Tale, 2017 Mistress, 1992 Mother’s Day, 2012 Mud, 2013 Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, 2016 Night is Short, Walk on Girl, 2017 No Eres Tu Soy Yo, 2011 Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure, 2019 Ollie & Moon, Seasons 1-2 Other Parents, Seasons 1-2 Pinocchio, 2012 Promare, 2019 Reservoir Dogs, 1992 Ride Your Wave, 2019 Righteous Kill, 2008 Sprung, 1997 The Spy Next Door, 2010 Tender Mercies, 1983 Thanks for Sharing, 2013 Turtle Tale, 2018 The Visitor, 2008 Vixen, 2015

January 14 Search Party, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

January 15 Stephen King’s It, 1990 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975 Poltergeist, 1982 Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Director’s Cut, Season 1 dubbed (Crunchyroll Collection) Real Time With Bill Maher, Season 19 Premiere (HBO) Roots (Mini Series), 1977 Si Yo Fuera Rico (Aka If I Were Rich), 2021 (HBO) The Wayans Bros

January 16 Eve Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2004 (HBO)

January 19 Everwood

January 20 At Home with Amy Sedaris, Season 3 C.B. Strike, Season 1 (HBO) C.B. Strike: Lethal White, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

January 21 Gomorrah, Max Original Season 3 Premiere Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1C

January 22 The New Adventures of Old Christine Painting with John, Series Premiere (HBO)

January 23 Don’t Let Go, 2019 (HBO) Person of Interest

January 24 Euphoria Special Episode Part 2: F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob, Special Episode Premiere (HBO)

January 26 Babylon 5 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

January 29 ¡Animo Juventud! (Aka Go Youth!), 2021 (HBO) The Little Things What I Like About You

January 30 The Mummy, 1999 (HBO) The Mummy Returns, 2001 (HBO) Pushing Daisies The Scorpion King, 2002 (HBO)

January 31 Axios, Season 4 Premiere (HBO)

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Leaving HBO Max – January 2021

January 7 War Dogs, 2016

January 24 Wonder Woman 1984, 2020

January 31 Ad Astra, 2019 After Hours, 1985 Akeelah And The Bee, 2006 All Is Bright, 2013 America, America, 1964 Anchors Aweigh, 1945 The Arrangement, 1969 Bee Season, 2005 Before Sunrise, 1995 Before Sunset, 2004 Best Laid Plans, 1999 Bigger Than The Sky, 2005 Blade II, 2002 Blade, 1998 Blood Simple, 1984 Bridge To Terabithia, 2007 Bright Lights, Big City, 1988 The Change-Up, 2011 The Children, 2009 A Christmas Carol, 1938 Crash, 2005 (Director’s Cut) David Copperfield, 1935 Days After Your Departure, 2019 Enemy Of The State, 1998 Everybody’s All-American, 1988 Father’s Day, 1997 Friday Night Lights, 2004 Get On Up, 2014 Guys And Dolls, 1955 High Society, 1956 Jeepers Creepers 2, 2003 Jeepers Creepers, 2001 Leprechaun 2, 1994 Leprechaun, 1993 Magnolia, 1999 The Man With The Golden Arm, 1955 Mars Attacks!, 1996 Martha Marcy May Marlene, 2011 Martin Lawrence You So Crazy, 1994 New Year’s Eve, 2011 (HBO) Ocean’s Eleven, 2001 Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007 Ocean’s Twelve, 2004 On The Town, 1949 The Pelican Brief, 1993 Planet Of The Apes, 2001 Risky Business, 1983 Semi-Pro, 2008 Some Came Running, 1958 Something Borrowed, 2011 Splendor In The Grass, 1961 Walk The Line, 2005 (Extended Version) When Harry Met Sally, 1989

The post HBO Max New Releases: January 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[tenetmagyartvpremier]

Videa.HD Tenet Teljes Film Magyarul 4K HD

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Tartalom A legsikeresebb Batman-trilógia és az Eredet rendezője, Christopher Nolan ismét különlegesen egyedi, izgalmas és meghökkentő fordulatokban gazdag thrillert rendezett, amelyen egy angol kémnek kellene megmentenie a Földet a rá leselkedő és pusztulással fenyegető katasztrófától. Ám a szuperügynöknek nemcsak az idegen hatalmak embereivel, hanem a legnagyobb ellenséggel, az Idővel is meg kell küzdenie.

Premier (HU): 2020.08.26. | InterCom Dráma | Akció | Thriller

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Film is a work of art in the form of a series of live images that are rotated to produce an illusion of moving images that are presented as a form of entertainment. The illusion of a series of images produces continuous motion in the form of video. The film is often referred to as a movie or moving picture. Film is a modern and popular art form created for business and entertainment purposes. Film making has now become a popular industry throughout the world, where feature films are always awaited by cinTenets. Films are made in two main ways. The first is through shooting and recording techniques through film cameras. This method is done by photographing images or objects. The second uses traditional animation techniques. This method is done through computer graphic animation or CGI techniques. Both can also be combined with other techniques and visual effects. Filming usually takes a relatively long time. It also requires a job desk each, starting from the director, producer, editor, wardrobe, visual effects and others. Image for post Definition and Definition of Film / Movie While the players who play a role in the film are referred to as actors (men) or actresses (women). There is also the term extras that are used as supporting characters with few roles in the film. This is different from the main actors who have bigger and more roles. Being an actor and an actress must be dTenetnded to have good acting talent, which is in accordance with the theme of the film he is starring in. In certain scenes, the actor’s role can be replaced by a stuntman or a stuntman. The existence of a stuntman is important to replace the actors doing scenes that are difficult and extreme, which are usually found in action action films. Films can also be used to convey certain messages from the filmmaker. Some industries also use film to convey and represent their symbols and culture. Filmmaking is also a form of expression, thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and moods of a human being visualized in film. The film itself is mostly a fiction, although some are based on fact true stories or based on a true story. There are also documentaries with original and real pictures, or biographical films that tell the story of a character. There are many other popular genre films, ranging from action films, horror films, comedy films, romantic films, fantasy films, thriller films, drama films, science fiction films, crime films, documentaries and others. That’s a little information about the definition of film or movie. The information was quoted from various sources and references. Hope it can be useful.

❍❍❍ TV MOVIE ❍❍❍ The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 1951 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1965, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.

❍❍❍ Formats and Genres ❍❍❍ See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 1980s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically rTenetined static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 1980s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television MOVIE to have this kind of dramatic structure,[4][better source needed] while the later MOVIE Babylon 5 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intendevd five-season run.[citvatio””&n needed] In 2007, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[5] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2007, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “”I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television. ❍❍❍ Thank’s For All And Happy Watching❍❍❍ Find all the movies that you can stream online, including those that were screened this week. If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama and Anime Movie. Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching The Video Today. I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited. Sprinkle cheerful smile so that the world back in a variety of colors.🙂

[the-muse-of-animation]

The Magic of Animation

Animation is like a dream come true, if magic exists, it’s in animation. As a child you may have been enchanted by the tree growing scene in Totoro or by how lively and comical a object such as the carpet in Aladdin could become. Have you ever wondered how this magic comes to be ? How all the mechanisms are set in motion to deliver the final product on your screen ? You have come to the right place, O Reader, this blog is solely devoted to the magic of animation, may it be to showcase its wonders or to uncover all its tricks.

This post will be a very small and incomplete talk about animation to serve as an introduction to this blog.

Why animation would be magical one may ask ?

Animation is magic because anything can take life on screen. Animation is the part of art that can not only give movements to a drawing but can also give it all the dimensions and complexity of a soul. Even a landscape has a new life when animated. All arts have their own way to convey life to their objects and animation is too often seen as simple entertainment compared to “higher arts” when it should be on the same level as all the other arts.  Animation is magic because unlike a live action movie, anything can be done : sumptuous sceneries, impressive fights, surreal landscapes, you name it. This is why live action adaptations are often considered a loss compared to their original material. The magic of animation also lies in the possibilities it offers, which are far more important than for a movie.The world of animation is built by all the styles the animators use. Animation is perhaps where the directors pour their own identities and visions in a more spectacular and intimate manner. This might be because in animation distortion is the key. For example the animated human figure is rarely similar to the real human figure. This distortion is impossible in live action movies. The same thing goes for the laws of physics : for example, in the animated world, a fabric will not fall the same way it would in real life. Hence the animated world has a wide range of aesthetics to play with.  When you watch animation you see a specific style and thus you see through the eyes of a creative mind. This is why the same scene animated by different animators will not render the same. The @gemanimate project in the Steven Universe fandom is a very good example of this, here is a comparison with the original material. Style goes hand in hand with technique : the technique influences the style and the style closer to the animator’s vision will be best express with a certain technique. Technique is the one of the reasons why animation is going through a golden age at the moment. Computers and 3D technology allow a whole new area for animators to experiment with more styles and more challenges too. The rising figure of this tendency is Makoto Shinkai :  he said himself that without technology he probably wouldn’t have started animating. Nonetheless, traditional animation is not dead and choosing between the two is actually already an artistic choice like the one made by former Disney animators when they started the Hullabaloo project. You wish to see the magic of technique ? Follow me ! Style and technique go hand in hand to create the most magical aspect of animation : an atmosphere. Animation goes even further than live action movies when it comes to creating an ambiance.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Akiyuki Shinbo and Gen Urobuchi

Your Name, Makoto Shinkai

Le Tableau, Jean-François Laguionie

The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Lotte Reiniger When animation appears in a movie, it not only adds novelty but is also very linked to the special role of this particular scene. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, The Tale of the Three Brothers is told through an animated scene : animation manages to render the eerieness of this story as well as the fact that it is not on the same level as the main story line. It is a tale and animation helps emphasize on the difference with the real world.

Like all magic tricks, the magician needs time to master it, to hide all the tricks and to give the impression of an effortless demonstration. You may admire an animator with all your might and may want him to make a new movie every year but behind every animated piece there are a lot of hard workers and hours of work. Even up to these days, animation is not something you can make in a blink of an eye. For example, stop motion is one of the technique to require a huge amount of work to shoot only a few seconds. It took 30 years for Le Roi et l’Oiseau, one of the masterpieces of French animation and also the first French full-length animated film, to achieve its final form. On a side note, the first incomplete release of the movie ended up inspiring a young generation of animators which happened to create the Studio Ghibli afterwards. Even nowadays animation requires time. Take the latest Disney movie Moana, it took around 5 years to make it, from the first scouting in the Pacific Islands to the final release in theaters. All this time is needed because animation goes far more than just characters moving, it’s about giving life, it’s about making the characters deep and complex as any good characters should be. It’s less a question of realism than a question of how touching and believable the story and the characters are. Animation is magic because it has so many different formats and each has their own specificities, may it be a movie, an animated series, an anime... Different formats mean different ways of using animation especially when it comes to animated series. A series of 10-minute long episodes will not tell a story the same way as a series of 20-minute long episodes. Nor would a movie or an anime, the latter having very specific “rules” of its own. Some may think that  nowadays animated series have way too simplistic drawing styles. As creator Alex Hirsh pointed out, style is not the only decisive element in animation, scenario and character development are keys to a good series. A story needs to follow a coherent scenario with a coherent ending. Gravity Falls is the best example when it comes to animated series, its ending crowning the series at the paroxysm of its excellence. Moreover, even in these “simplistic drawn” shows, there is a clear distinction and work on the style, Steven Universe is not Gravity Falls, each has its own aesthetics and ambiances.

Steven Universe

Gravity Falls

Over the Garden Wall Animation is magic because it is a important part of another side of art : video games. Video games nowadays can expand and keep innovating partly because of their use of  animation. Here again style is a very important aspect : the story travels through it to bring you a very specific ambiance and grab your attention. And there again, the scenario influences the style chosen.

Child of Light

Limbo Animation is magic because it has a very special place compared to the other media when it comes to audience.  An immense majority of people still thinks that animation is either for kids or a weird hobby for adults to have. They fail to see that animation is a huge part of education for kids : animation helps develop imagination, it sparkles creativity, and helps them understand themselves better. Rebecca Sugar said that she created Steven Universe because she wanted to help young people in search of themselves and she would have loved to have a show like this when she was young and struggling. Likewise Gravity Falls is an ode to the imagination and creativity of childhood and the transition to adolescence. Hence saying that a show is “for kids” doesn’t mean anything else than an ignorant contempt. As an adult, you can appreciate animation as the art it is and reflect on things differently. The animation industry targets more and more adults with some heavy-themed productions. Psichonautas is a very good example of this. The movie addresses multiple issues such as depression, PTSD, drugs and global warming through a very dark ambiance. Likewise, Night in the Woods explores mental illness, animation and striking imagery conveying Mae’s dissociative disorder.

Night in the Woods Animation is magic because it comes to life with music. As I said, animation is not only movements, backgrounds, styles and everything in between. To bring the characters and the world to life, animation needs voices and music. A Miyazaki movie will not be the same without Joe Hisaishi to paint the sound of his universe. The same thing goes for the voice actors. Their part in the process is as important as any other. The Joker in the Batman Series would not have been the Joker without Mark Hamill and even up to these days, he is the most iconic performer. The voice actors themselves are like chameleons, you are sometimes surprised to discover it was a very familiar actor/actress who was dubbing a specific character. Tara Strong is a very famous voice actress precisely for that reason. Animation is magic because it is linked with everything else. Animation sparkles creativity from the watchers : fanart is the mark of this creativity. Besides, animation is connected with culture too. Animation and video games are also other ways and maybe less conventionnal ways of learning about history, literature etc. The anime Puella Magi Magica Madoka plays on the Faustian myth whereas the Fate series are very good ways to learn who Semiramis or Hassan ibn al-Sabbah were in history. These series often use historical fact in very clever manners to serve the scenarios. Like everything, animation has a bad side, still they are the reason we should appreciate all the more the good stuff. The Muse answers all your questions here, O Reader !

[thegeekerynj]

An Occasional Attempt to Read, Discuss and Review the Wonders of Comics By: John Rafferty, cranky old man, and Fan of All Things Comics

Short Takes

Short Reviews, where the Cranky Fat Guy Doesn’t Have Much to Say ———————————————————————

Flash #756 - 757 Reverse Flash Family / Legion of Zoom part 1

Writer: Joshua Wiliamson Artist: Christian Duce / Rafa Sandoval & Jordi Tarragona

‘I know my Daddy didn’t do it! You’re lying!’

Hooooo Boy!

Am I the only one that thinks this is just taking tooooo long to play out?

This is a book about speedsters, right?

When did Barry Allen become such a whiny twit? I mean, Iris has bigger stones than he does...

Hoping this gets better, because right now, Williamson is killing this book for me. It’s a shame, too, because some of the artwork is absolutely brilliant.

Hat’s off to Duce, and Sandoval and Tarragona, for making so much of this.

out of 5🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶

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Billionaire Island #1-2 (Ahoy Comics)

Writer: Mark Russell Art: Steve Pugh

‘Oh My God! Oh My God! Forty years in Action Movies, and I’m finally doing it, For Real!’

Imagine, if you will, a time where the rich don’t want to pay taxes any more, and will do just about anything to avoid doing so...

Welcome to Billionaire Island, conceived by Rick Canto, majority stock holder of AGGRO Corp.

Sanctuary to the Ultra-Rich, where anything goes, nothing is illegal, what happens there, well it definitely stays there. And, anyone who comes snooping around, well, they get the hamster wheel.

Enter our two protagonists, Shelley Bly (biting humor if there ever is some), and a mysterious assassin, who makes short work, and then assumes the identity of the CEO of AGGRO Corp, Corey Spagnola.

Where Pugh and Russell take us, well, I’m not sure it matters, as long as the laughs and the satire are as biting and uproarious as they already have been!

Hamster Wheel!

out of 5 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶.5

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Road To Empire One-Shot

Writer: Robbie Thompson Artists: Mattia De Iulis, Javier Rodriguez and Alvaro Lopez

‘But you just said it yourself. We were peaceful once. Can’t we be so again?’

Once, there was two warring races, and Earth-616 stood between them.

The Kree-Skrull War occupied much of my childhood, what with the Avengers, the advent of Mar-Vell, the Original Captain Marvel, his Nega-Bands, and the joining to Rick (oh, yes, I need another job) Jones, the Super-Skrull, the Skrull Race, and the Fantastic Four, Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, the retcon of the Inhumans for the Kree Terrigen Mist, the Kree experimentation on Humanity to create Inhumans, The Secret Invasion, Hulkling, and now.... the Sleeper Skrull-gents, waiting to be activated, after the Secret Invasion went belly up... the list goes on, and inexorably on....

But now, we get the ‘true’ history of the Three Races, Skrull, Kree and Cotati (who da Fu...) anyway, this is where we are.

Strangely enough, this is a neat little bottle story, giving a history lesson, from the view of a combatant. Too often, these history lesson type stories are told either from the viewpoint of the winner, or the loser, and when that happens, the other side is never portrayed in a sympathetic light. This story, maybe because it is told from the viewpoint of a mother, casts all sides as both right and wrong, except the Cotati, who appeared to have been totally obliterated by the Kree, in an effort to show how ‘advanced’ they were.

All in all, a neat story. I’m not sure it’s enough to drag me into the 800 titles that will be involved in this story, but I was dutifully impressed with this story, and art.

out of 5 🌶 🌶🌶 🌶 .5

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Batman The Adventure Continues 1 & 2

Writers: Alan Burnett and Paul Dini Artist: Ty Templeton

‘These rocket’s cost money, ya know!

Send the bill to Batgirl, 123 Try And Find Me Avenue, Gotham City!’

Well, for fans of Batman: The Animated Series, and Batman: The New Adventures, your time is nigh!

Did you ever have that show you watched, no matter what, and when it got cancelled, you wished, with all your might, it would come back... on another channel, on a streaming platform, somehow?

For some reason, the Powers That Be at DC / WB / ATT decided it was time to give the Little Kid in all of us something to enjoy... 20+ pages of Paul Dini / Alan Burnett goodness with Ty Templeton SPECIALNESS!

Two issues in, and I’m all a-giggle... Batman - Superman -Luthor - GIANT ROBOT, Bat Family - Slade Frickin’ Wilson!!!, and the stories are fun! They are well written, snappy dialoged, nicely transitioned stories... good enough for the pre-teen, with more than enough to tickle the memories of the these characters unfold as written during the 90’s.

Templeton's artwork captures the stylistics of the cartoon show, while enhancing it for the newer reader. The reader can see / hear Dini’s influences in the dialog, it moves similar to the cartoon of old, nary skipping a beat, grabbing the old memories, and dragging them to the forefront.

I hope this team can keep the established pace up. If they can, this will be my GO - TO Happy Place Book going forward!

out of 5 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶

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Sleeping Beauties #1 ( From the fevered minds of Stephen and Owen King)

Adapted : Rio Youers Art: Alison Sampson

‘Sleeping Sickness. A Never-Ending Universe. Jeez, it sounds like High School’ They say it’s in the genes.

Talent, that is.

Well, I’m here to tell you, this is the evidence.

The King Family, in all it’s gory. Sorry, glory. Tabitha, with her Nodd’s Ridge stories, Joe Hill, well between Hill House Comics, Locke and Key, NOS4A2...and now Owen, with Sleeping Beauties, co-penned with his dad.

You know. The creepy guy from Castle Rock.

Anyway, this adaptation is pretty, stylish, and so far, pretty on point. Rio Yours is doing a nice job of staying true to source, while pushing the story quickly enough to make it palatable for the comics world.

The wonder is the art. This book is beautiful. It is very stylized, almost webbed together, Some of the artwork is very airy, as if it is intended to float, almost without perspective, while other panels stand out as meticulous, detailed studies in a single action, to capture the act in case there is a need to refer back to it later.

Like a King story, there is a great deal going on, some detail which the Reader might miss at first, but will be drawn to later.

This is a book to watch. It is guaranteed to be a limited run, but it is well worth catching.

out of 5🌶 🌶🌶🌶🌶

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Justice League 45-46-47 Cold War parts 2-3-4

Writer: Robert Venditti Pencils: Xermanico & Robson Rocha Inkers: Xermanico, Daniel Henriquez & Robson Rocha

Jim Corrigan... The Spectre... Themyscira... Tartarus!

The Gates of Hell are Opening! God’s Fist of Vengeance is no longer tethered to a human host! Tartarus, the FIRST GOD of THE HELLS is loosed upon the world!

And everyone is just being introspectively angry?

John Stewart and Batman don’t like each other?? This is news? Everyone’s pissed at Superman?? Hell, I’m pissed at Superman!! That was dumb!

Corrigan pissed at GOD?!!? The Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance, has been corrupted?? Why does this feel like 4 issues of a CSPAN?

Pretty artwork, though...

out of 5 🌶 🌶🌶