Action Comics #1058 Review

Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson Artist: Rafa Sandoval Colorist: Matt Herms Letterer: Dave Sharpe Cover Artist: Steve Beach Publisher: DC Comics Reviewer: StoryBabbler Superman is back and making waves in Metropolis, and while his opposition in the Blue Earth movement barely registered as real threats, now he faces one. A bodyguard of Blue Earth’s young founder and leader, Norah Stone, used a…

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WB Wonder Woman 1975 Movie Pilot Review Finale

It’s WWE Nazi Smackdown With Nazi Wonder Woman V1.0!Ok it’s time to bring the movie pilot to a close. First transformation. First use of the Lasso of Truth. Wonder Woman using her power of ventriloquism! And Version 1.0 Nazi Wonder Woman! Apparently Carl brought his entire Nazi Sympatizer network from New York! He has a few like minded agents to help him capture Steve Trevor. The Taxi Driver?…

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I understand that literature nerd Jason Todd is kind of overblown in fanon compared to it's actual presence in canon (a few issues during his pre (and post?)crisis Robin tenure that highlight it) BUT consider that I think it's hilarious if the unhinged gun toting criminal has strong opinions on poetry

"F*ck this s*it. Go find your boyfriend and bring him home, son."

Watched the Nimona movie last night. Review I guess. It was pretty damn good. Definitely would’ve probably been regarded as Blue Sky’s magnum opus if they’d gotten to release it instead of being fucked over by Disney. Very cute, very funny, very powerful in the right moments. A thing that stuck out to me is that it’s really only an adaptation in the loosest sense of the word. It takes the core premise and beats of the comic but is functionally an entirely different kind of story that does its own thing. And given that ND Stevenson was heavily involved in production, I suspect that was intentional.

The comic was much darker and more downbeat in a lot of ways, plus it was significantly longer and thus could afford to be slower paced. But more than that, it was a lot more meaty in terms of themes and scope. The whole “LGBT allegory” element was there, but it wasn’t the sole focus, the comic was a story about a lot of different things; not just an LGBT experience, but also discussion of fantasy genre tropes and clichés, criticism of other fantasy deconstructions, character study, exploring what it means to be a hero or villain, critique of the glorification of crime and cruelty in underprivileged communities, corruption in governments, peer pressure, the senseless and self-perpetuating nature of violence, the worthlessness of revenge, etc.. And above all that, it was a story about trauma and people’s responses to it, with Ballister representing people who actually deal with their problems and move on while Nimona represented people who let their mistakes and suffering and grief consume their identity, or worse, use it as an excuse to indulge their worst qualities and take out their feelings on everyone around them.

The movie, by contrast, has a much more narrow focus. The LGBT allegory is front and center and basically the entire focal point of the movie, aside from a spattering of themes about the danger of zealotry and rigid fundamentalist thinking. This gives the movie a much tighter narrative and pacing that suits its inherently shorter runtime, but also leads to a ton of changes to the story either to convey a different kind of message or just work better in a different medium. Most obviously in how Nimona is vastly more sympathetic in the movie and essentially really is the silly gremlin the comic fakes you out into thinking she is, scrapping the comic’s twist that she was a genuinely bad person who was completely serious about wanting to be a villain, caring nothing for the lives she destroyed with her behavior and idolizing Ballister because she thought he was the same as her and would thus tell her what she wanted to hear (i.e., that she was justified in killing and destroying everything around her in the name of getting even). And in the changes to the Institution’s history and nature. And all sorts of other things.

All in all, I feel if you go in comparing and contrasting the movie and the comic, arguing which changes are for the better or worse, you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment in either direction because they’re two different beasts and it’s like comparing apples and oranges. So keep that in mind if you’re a fan of the comic watching the movie or a fan of the movie wanting to look into the comic. I think ultimately I still like the comic better, but that’s purely my personal opinion and there’s plenty that I think the movie did better.

Some other observations:

Riz Ahmed my beloved, thank you Mr. Stevenson for this perfect casting. Literally perfect for Ballister.

Acting in general was very good. You can tell this was a passion project for a lot of people, not just Stevenson.

Only two changes that are objectively bad are Ambrosius losing his awesome Van Halen hairdo and changing Ballister’s last name — Blackheart is a way cooler name than Boldheart and it’s a pointless change, one that I’d argue even hurts the narrative since it makes it too obvious that Ballister isn’t actually a bad guy.

The animation is really great with fantastic expressions, stylish movement, and wonderful aesthetics that perfectly suit the story, but there’s times where it feels a little off. But there are parts where it looks less “movie” and more “cheap mid-2000s CGI-and-Flash cartoon show from France”.

The humor can be a hit and miss, in a “going through the motions of a Hollywood animated comedy for kids” way. The movie excels when it’s either imitating the comic’s Old Internet sense of humor or going hard on the drama, but there’s bits where it seemingly slams on the brakes to do Illumination-esque Twitter humor and those bits definitely throw off the vibe.

Having an actual straight up attempted suicide in the climax was shockingly ballsy. I genuinely can’t believe they went there, but I’m glad they did because the film wouldn’t have felt nearly as raw without it.

I don’t know how they managed to make the Director even more of an asshole than in the comics, but they did.

Does this make sense?

Dick trying to review a new Nighwing action figure:

I'm just imagining Dick having a YT channel where he reviews different superhero merch, but his brothers refuse to let him film a normal video lol

would you please elaborate on your comment "renowned hack frank miller" ? i haven't read much from him yet but i like to listen to informed people tell me why [thing] sucks because it's funnier than dc wiki

when someone tells me their favourite comic writer is frank miller my response is the same as when someone tells me their favourite films are american psycho and fight club — i immediately prepare for an irish exit from the convo.

both (some of) miller’s work and those films are influential pieces of art with explicit political ideology, but while american psycho and fight club are (frequently) misinterpreted satire, miller is genuine to the point of hilarity.

if u consume batman as a character in any capacity u cannot escape miller’s influence — batman: year one is the pretty definitive starting point for most fans (and filmmakers, like matt reeves with the batman 2022), and miller’s visual style is a cornerstone for modern comics. the dark knight returns effectively changed how comics were viewed by readers, and is credited with kickstarting the modern age of comic books. i cannot emphasise that even if u haven’t read a miller book u have certainly encountered someone else inspired by his work.

with that said — miller writes like how a racist libertarian who believes his own hype would write about superheroes. greta, u must be wondering, that seems like an awfully specific descriptor to assign to someone. and normally u would be right!

the because im batman schtick that every sixteen year old nolan stan with a twitter account ran into the ground circa 2014 started because of miller, and his success in the 80s led to a number of ill advised projects fueled by his own hype. all star batman and robin was an uncritical interpretation of bruce that embodies all the worst misinterpretations of dc characters, including the justice league, that miller then tried to espouse was satire. unfortunately, he is not smart enough to punch up instead of down — the absurd hypersexualisation of women doesn’t become satire just because you’re laughing at readers in the script, frank.

this, in turn, led to one of the most virulently racist comics ever published — 2011’s islamophic nightmare fuel holy terror. he should not be taken seriously as a creative force, and he should not be the foundation of what comics should be. at least alan moore is marginally less obnoxious and fully admits that the killing joke was a bad idea.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? 🛑

THE JONKER? 🛑🛑

THE FUCKING JONKER??? 🛑🛑🛑

YOU FUCKING JONKERIFED HIM???? 🛑🛑🛑🛑

WHY WOULD YOU FUCKING DO THAT????? 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

YOU TOOK A PERFECTLY GOOD HARVEY AND MADE HIM THIS????? 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

For ONE his suit is not even FUCKING dented! 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

For TWO they try to make it look dented but IT JUST LOOKS LIKE THE PAINT IS PEALING 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

YOU HAVE HIM FUCKING JONKER MAKEUP 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

THID IS APISSPOOREXCUSEFOR WHST A HARVEY CAN BE 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

THIS ISA PISSPOOE FUCKING EXCUSR FOR WHAT A HAEVEF SHOWLD BE 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

NOT EVEN THIE HAND IS FUCKED UP FUCK YOUFUCKYOYFUCKYOUFUCKYOU 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

Coin 🪙

FAIL TOTAL 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑

BONUS TOTAL 🪙

The fact that you can use Botox for hypertrophic scars and burn wounds is so amusing to me. People would absolutely buy that Bruce Wayne spends insane sums on cosmetic treatments to stay young and good-looking, rather than assuming he needs to get rid of his litany of scars before the Wayne Enterprises corporate retreat.

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1 Review

Batman/ Catwoman: The Gotham War - Scorched Earth #1 Review #scorchedearth #gothamwar #battlelines #batman #catwoman #batandcat #tomking #brucewayne #selenakyle #gotham #DC #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #DCEU #dcuuniverse #art #NCBD #previews #reviews #Amazon

Writers: Tini Howard and Chip Zdarsky Artist: Mike Hawthorne, Nikola Cizmesija, Mark Morales, Wade Von Grawbadger, Arif Prianto, and Clayton Cowles Publisher:  DC Comics Price: $5.99 Release Date: October 31st, 2023 The final chapter of this epic crossover is here, and Batman and his family must find a way to overcome the endgame of an ancient enemy as Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched…

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Quick thought on Barbara Gordon's role in the new Birds of Prey...

Spoilers for Birds of Prey (2023-) #7

....

Okay so; I am really, really happy that they actually told Barbara about the situation and what was going on this time. After the ending of the #6 I was kinda afraid they were going to do something like keep Babs in the dark while they chose the "Secret Barbara Gordon Defence Squad" route, so I have to say it was quite the relief when they instead went "Work with Oracle to solve this mystery" route.

I guess this fear was mostly due to how they excluded Barbara from the first arc, and kept her entirely in the dark about even the existence of the mission. And then at the end of #6 they made a point of showing that Barbara was indeed hurt by this and they only revealed the reasons after Barbara had already left the roof.

So it was nice to have Barbara immediately get brought into the loop. I've complained a bit about the first arc of this run; and I suppose the heart of my personal issues with it was I felt it was all a tad contrived, between excluding Barbara and having a hero vs hero conflict with the Amazons.

But in #7 not only is Barbara informed of the situation, but she's working alongside Dinah and also acting as Oracle.

Between all of the dead alternate Barbaras being shown wearing their Batgirl outfits and Barbara being dressed as Batgirl in the cover of #7, it was a pleasant surprise to find that Barbara was indeed taking the lead as Oracle instead Batgirl. In fact despite the cover art, she doesn't even use her Batgirl outfit in #7.

Still feel like they should've just told Babs all the way back in #1 and had her take the lead as Oracle back then, but I digress.

With contrived conflict and lack of communication being the main thing which I felt distracted my enjoyment of the first arc, the fact that this new arc is getting kicked off with significantly less of that has made me really enjoy #7 and am looking forward to more.

your talia in your newest comic is very pretty 💜 shiny hair save me….

AHH THANK YOU SM I didn't shade her hair originally when I was coloring cause I was trying to streamline things but it looked so incomplete without it...I can't help it if she has L'Oreal model energy. Anyway you're always really nice on my Steph posts so here's some misc Stephs I had lying around as thanks for this ask (feat one of those alt cowl designs i posted back when!)

This movie is incredibly bad and at most bland as hell. Unfortunately even with the amount of characters they have that are so interesting they do nothing with it. What are your thoughts on the movie if you seen it? Thanks for all the support guys!