Since you all clearly loved my last cursed batfamily ship questions, here's the winner vs another cursed ship

DEATHSTROKE INC. #12 Written by ED BRISSON Art by DEXTER SOY Cover by MIKEL JANÍN

Robin Watching: 952/∞

Damian Wayne as Robin (Bandaged)

Image Source

Deathstroke #43 by Carlo Pagulayan, Sergio Davila, and Pop Mhan

Deathstork the Terminator #22

This comic book was popular enough to go biweekly?

There's not way I kept up with this series once it went biweekly. At twenty-one years old, you have a sense to avoid people and things that are trying too hard. Why? I don't know why! I just made that fact up to explain my behavior! Anyway, I'm fairly certain I purchased one issue of this after this one and gave up on it. Apparently I was beginning to be a discriminating comic book reader! But not that discriminating because I kept buying New Titans. Deathstork the Terminator #22 Rating: Six corpses out of nine. In this issue, Deathstork kills a bunch of neo-nazis and then kills the government agents behind the recruiting of the neo-nazis. If this were a story out of today's headlines, it would be much better. Where is Deathstork when we truly need him?!

So something kinda funny happened a while ago

I was completely unaware that DC Superhero Girls had started airing again. That wouldn’t be that much of an issue, except I also forgot that I set my DVR to record new episodes months ago. So imagine my surprise when I check the DVR and find five new episodes of Superhero girls just there. 

And I thought it would be fun to go over the episodes I saw, since there’s actually some good stuff in them. I doubt I’ll do this again anytime soon, but still. 

Tween Titans: This actually came out after I found the recorded episodes, but I figured I’d throw it in too. Mostly because I don’t actually have that much to say about it. Karen and Jess get a job babysitting Dick Grayson and the other Titans, but they are all around ten years old. There wasn’t anything particularly special about this episode. It was just kinda fun watching Bumblebee and Green Lantern having to deal with a bunch of superpowered kids. 

I will say the time line seems about right. Dick is usually a few years younger than Barbara, and the characters are specifically called tweens, so he has to be somewhere between ten and twelve years old. We also got to see Bruce Wayne first hand for the first time. It is kinda funny to continue to see two of the three members of the Trinity being assholes. Although, to be fair we’ve really only seen Superman through Supergirl’s eyes and she has a pretty strong bias against him. And it’s unsure how much of Bruce’s douche nature is all part of the “Bruce Wayne Act” he usually has going on.

And I have a distinct feeling this episode is a direct response to Teen Titans Go. While most fans of the Titans either actively hate Go or are generally ambivalent towards it. I kinda have a feeling Lauren Faust might be slightly resentful towards Teen Titans Go since Super Best Friends Forever basically got passed over for it. It’s just the fact that they used the most popular version of the Titans, which just happens to be the same lineup as Go. It could be coincidence, but considering the Titans act like hyper-active brats, a fairly common criticism of Go, it really seems like Lauren Faust is taking a dig at Teen Titans Go.

All about Zee: A girl from school nobody talks to or really acknowledges becomes obsessed with Zatanna and eventually takes both her physical appearance and powers. She figures out Zatanna’s other friends are the superhero girls and takes their powers and appearances as well, becoming a hodgepodge of them all. This is easily the weakest episode for me. I’ve seen this premise a bunch of times and it’s never not felt cringy as shit. 

It feels like this was the episode that really felt like it was pulling influence for MLP. People were saying Zatanna was a lot like Rarity, and Rarity’s main thing was generosity right? I don’t know, that’s just how it feels to me. 

I think it is kinda funny that the running joke of the villain of this episode is that no one knows who she is and they can’t remember her name because I can’t either. And I’m also not sure if she existed in the comics either. Maybe she’s a Zatanna villain, I don’t know, I haven’t read many of her books. I thought she was Cole for a minute, but as far as I know, the whole changing appearance thing isn’t something Cole can do. 

I don’t know, this just didn’t feel like this show’s best, you know?

Living the Nightmare: Another Zatanna focused episode, and a marked improvement over the last. The Girls are having a sleepover at Zatanna’s place and they start talking about nightmares, specifically how Zatanna doesn’t have nightmares because she doesn’t have any insecurities or anxieties that can manifest within her subconscious. So, of course the villain of the episode attacks the girls through their dreams. 

I initially thought the villain was going to be long standing Justice League villain Dr. Destiny, but turned out to be a relatively new Zatanna villain named Fuseli. A demon who feeds off of people’s nightmares. And since Zatanna doesn’t get nightmares, she has to enter her friend’s dreams to find the little bastard. 

I usually like episodes like this. It’s a good way to quite literally get into the heads of the protagonists. We don’t get a lot of insight into most of the girls unfortunately. Most of their nightmares are by and large inconsequential. Kara is afraid of cockroaches, Diana is (Inexplicably) afraid of teddy bears, and Babs is afraid of...sharks I think? Karen’s fear has a bit more substance since she’s afraid of public speaking, but that’s to be expected from a character whose main defining trait is being shy. 

The two interesting dreams are Jess’s and Zatanna’s. A common criticism of the portrayal of the characters was the omission of the anxiety and mental issues that were part of Jess’s backstory. In the comics, Jess was an agoraphobic who experienced an extremely traumatic event before having the powers of Power Ring, the evil Earth-3 Green Lantern that’s powered by fear instead of Will power, forced on her. Lauren Faust has openly stated that Jess had gotten over most of her issues before the series began, but this episode alludes to the idea that she hasn’t gotten over them completely. And this could set up for future episodes to further explore Jess’s issues in full context. This episode is about Zatanna after all. 

Speaking of, Zatanna’s claim that she doesn’t have any issues isn’t entirely true. I wouldn’t call it a running joke, but a recurring plot point in the series is that Zatanna’s magic isn’t the best. She usually comes through at the end of the day, but more often than not, Zatanna’s attempts to perform magic will backfire in some way. And after tricking Fuseli out of her friends’ dreams and into her own, It’s revealed that she did in fact have something she was scared of. Zatanna is actually afraid of her own full magical potential, and that if she didn’t have enough control she might hurt someone. The reason she doesn’t have any nightmares about it was because someone, most likely her father, magically suppressed them. 

This is also one of the few times so far that the show brought up and expounded upon a storyline that appeared earlier in the series. Abrakadabrapalooza showed that Zatanna’s powers first manifesting scared the absolute shit out of her. While she quickly accepted her magical powers, I have to assume it still really freaked her out considering she almost destroyed the Green Room she was in, and could have easily developed a complex as she was learning to control her powers. Zatara, seeing the toll the incident in the Green Room was having on his daughter, could have locked away her fears so she could have peace of mind while she trains to become a better sorceress. 

Of course Fuseli, being a nightmare demon, manifests Zatanna’s repressed fears and there’s a big showdown where Zatanna obviously wins. There’s some interesting implications about Zatanna having her fears suppressed; like what will happen to her now that her fears are out and she acknowledges them. This was a fun episode and it does a decent amount to develop Zatanna. 

Dinner for five: Not my favorite of the bunch but it is up there. Dinner for Five doesn’t do much to develop the characters and the only one of the main Girls in the episode is Barbara. It’s just a really fun episode with a lot of action, great interactions and good comedy. It also introduces Deathstroke into the show, which is genuinely surprising. 

The episode is about Babs meeting a new friend in school, Rose Wilson, whose father just happens to be Deathstroke. The fights between Babs and Deathstroke are one of the highlights of the episode. Superhero Girls has some above board animation, but it’s not what the show is known for. This isn’t exactly Avatar, Rise of the TMNT, or even the original Teen Titans. The fight scenes have always been less about choreography and more about Loony Tunes’ esque slapstick and visual humor. And the fights between Babs and Deathstroke are some of the best mediums between the comedic style of fighting this show is known for and more serious fight animation. 

What really surprised me about this episode is the just that Deathstroke was the villain and the show actually named him Deathstroke, kept him as an assassin, and outright claimed that he killed many people, and the entire reason he and Rose came to Mertopolis was to murder Jim Gordon. This is especially surprising considering the reason Deathstroke was named Slade in Teen Titans was because Cartoon Network wasn’t sure they could get away with a recurring villain being named Deathstroke the Terminator. So it’s just kinda funny that DC Superhero Girls did that even though it’s  aiming at the same, if not a slightly younger demographic than Teen Titans. 

The story is also a prime example of the beauty in simplicity. With a premise like “Babs makes friends with Deathstorke’s daughter” I would have figured there’d be some kind of third act twist where it turns out Rose is actually Deathstroke herself, or she takes up her Ravager identity and she and Deathstroke both fight Babs. But no. Rose is just a nice sweet girl that really likes Babs and her dad just happens to be an infamous assassin. She even knows he’s Deathstroke and walks in on him about to murder Babs. And she just scolds him for doing so, and kind of implies Deathstroke has tried to kill her friends before. 

Bottom line, this was a fun simple episode 

Retreat: This is another low point for me. It’s not as bad as All about Zee, but there isn’t much to say about it either. Even though I don’t have a problem with episodes just being fun and not having any relevance to the larger narrative or developing the characters, Retreat especially feels like filler. 

Jess drags Babs, Karen, Hal, and Garth into the woods for a camping trip, and springs on them that she also invited Pam. And Pam immediately freaks out when the others start using various tree parts to do stuff around the campset. Pam runs off into the woods and turns into Poison Ivy to raise a small army of plant monsters to straight up kill the others. As she does this, Babs tells Garth, Karen, and Hal a scary story about a witch of the woods, and of course Ivy’s plant monsters attack just as she finishes her story. 

The rest of the episode is just the heroes fighting off the plant monsters with various shenanigans happening as they try to survive, since Jess insisted that they put all their technology, including all of their weapons, in a bag tied to a tree. And It’s all pretty solid. I can’t think of anything overtly wrong with this episode, it just doesn’t really do anything all that special. It is still a little annoying that the running joke of Aqualad being useless is still going on. But at least they acknowledge that Garth is the only one of the heroes whose powers don’t come from an external source. He still gets taken out pretty easily, but at least they show he is one of the strongest characters in the show, even if he is still a joke. 

It is still funny that Jess is so adamant that she and Pam are friends, when Pam’s antipathy towards her and the other is clear as fucking day. While it is kinda ridiculous that the Superhero Girls and Supervillain Girls can’t seem to put two and two together and figure out who the other is (Especially since Babs put it together that Rose’s dad was Deathstroke pretty fuckin quick) I honestly hope this dynamic sticks around for as long as possible. Logic be damned. 

Ally Cat: This is easily, the best episode of the bunch. And it brings up something I’ve been waiting for since the first episode: Lex Luthor coming back as a villain. And holy shit, was it worth the wait. 

The episode begins with a news report showing Lex digging up Stonehenge to find the mythical Book of Eternity. An ancient tome that Zatanna claims is able to predict the future with perfect accuracy. Because no one in this universe, or at least none of the six main girls, knows that Lex is a massive asshole they’re not too worried about him having a Book that powerful. But Zatanna insists that no one should have that much power and actually suggest they steal the book from Lex. 

Most of the girls are apprehensive, but Babs is surprisingly on board with the idea, and is sure she could come up with a plan to sneak into Lexcorp. Unfortunately, Babs has to go out of town with her dad, and can’t help heist. (And I kinda love that Babs insists that they’re not stealing they’re pulling off a heist, like there’s some kind of difference) So the girls do the only other logical thing they can think of; find Catwoman and get her to plan the heist for them. 

It is a solid plan, and it’s kinda funny that Diana either doesn’t understand the concept of blackmail or is so righteous and good she doesn’t recognize that she and the other girls are doing it to get Catwoman to help them. Either way, Catwoman does come up with a fairly genius plan to get them into Lex’s vault. 

I have to admit I really love what this series does with Catwoman. Making Selina black is whatever, it’s not that big of a deal to be honest. But the fact that Summer Cree was directed to emulate the Eartha Kit version of Catwoman adds a lot to the performance. And it’s kinda great that they made Catwoman the brains of the Villain Girls. Catwoman’s always been clever, but this show almost seems to make her out to be almost, if not just as intelligent as Lex. 

Speaking of Lex, after they just barely manage to get into the elevator to take them to Lex’s vault (Catwoman’s plan almost immediately goes south because the Girls absolutely suck at being criminals) Lex confronts them in his vault, traps the girls, and reveals that Catwoman had actually been working with Lex the whole time. It does make the Girls almost fucking up the plan to get here even funnier in retrospect, since it’s clear Lex wanted them in the vault in the first place. He also reveals that he’s managed to capture the Invinci-Bros and even Superman. 

Lex explains that he read the Book of Eternity, and knew that the Superhero Girls were going to try and steal the book by asking Catwoman for help, so he just got to her first. He was able to predict everyone’s moves thanks to the book, which allowed him to effortlessly incapacitate everyone he’s confronted so far. He claims he needed every hero in the city out of the way so he could enact his master plan. The plan he decides to tell Catwoman, simply because he doesn’t think she can stop him and he’s about to send her out of the city anyway. 

Thanks to the Book of Eternity, Lex knows that a huge meteor is hurtling towards Earth that will utterly destroy Metropolis and possibly cause global ecological devastation. Lex plans to let the meteor hit, have millions of people die and come in as the big goddamn hero he wants everyone to see him as, and have his technology save the surviving citizenry and rebuild the city in his own image. 

This is why I think this series is so good. It’s dumb and goofy, but when it wants to get dark, Holy Shit! They do not pull any punches with this plot. Catwoman out right says that countless people will die if Lex does this; and Lex does not give a shit. Lex Luthor’s main defining character trait is being a megalomaniacal sociopath with little to no regard for human life. He’s obsessed with his own self-image and will destroy anyone or anything to make himself look better. And this episode encapsulates that perfectly 

The show doesn’t do anything too extreme, but this plan shows just how evil Lex can be simply by not sugar coating the death toll that will result from it. To the point even one of our recurring villains is utterly horrified by it. But he does seem to scare her off before she can do anything to try and stop him. Fortunately, like in the comics, Catwoman admits that while she’s a thief, she isn’t willing to let an entire city die just to save herself. She doubles back and releases the Superhero Girls so that they can save the city from the meteor. 

Catwoman finds Lex on a boat and tells him that after he hired her to trick the Girls, she took a look at the book herself and figured out what Lex’s plan was. So she tore out the page that said what she’d do after the Girls were captured and double crossed Lex. This is also completely in character for Lex. He is so smart that Lex will always underestimate whoever he’s dealing with, so it’s usually surprisingly easy to trick or outsmart him. Especially for someone as clever as Catwoman. 

Of course, Catwoman tries to take the Book of Eternity from Lex, but the Girls show up and get the book from her. And the episode ends with Catwoman robbing Lex blind, and showing that the male superheroes are still in Lex’s cages. 

This was another thirty minute long special, and probably one of the best so far. It did a great job of showcasing just how dangerous this version of Lex is, while still keeping him kid friendly. He was silly and danced around during his fight with the heroes, but he still planned on letting an entire city be destroyed just to make himself look good. It was also fun to see Catwoman’s more anti-heroic side coming out in this, since DC Superhero Girls has her set up as a pure villain. 

And that pretty much everything. This took a lot longer to write, and I will never try to review five episodes of a tv show again, but it was fun to get all my thoughts about this show out. A new episode came out while I was writing this, but I’m not gonna talk about that one this time. I just want to get this one done. Still, as simple as this show is, it continues to be a fun superhero cartoon that I hope will get more kids into DC’s heroes. 

 @jasonofbanamighdall  requested:

Wait disregard my ask. I didn’t know we had to go through submissions. But for the bingo card could you do Deathstroke with Jason and dick with someone hiring Deathstorke to take out red hood and dick gets involved and trying to save his brother? If it’s open of course. Please stand by for post.  

I know when the Bats haven’t slept enough when the mission report says “Deathstork” instead of “Deathstroke.”

Please go to bed. All of you.

Arrow 

sezon 8

Opis: W finale poprzedniego sezonu Arrow  po Olivera zgłosił się Monitor, aby ten pomógł mu zwalczyć nadciągający  Kryzys. Pierwszym przystankiem na drodze do osiągnięcia celu jest  Starling City, znane z 1. sezonu. To alternatywny świat, w którym Oliver  wraca z wyspy, jednak wiele rzeczy zmieniło się diametralnie. Malcolm  jest mężem matki Queena, Laurel chroni miasto wraz z Adrianem Chase'em, a  ukochana siostra Thea zmarła z przedawkowania narkotyków. Nasz bohater musi  odnaleźć w tym świecie pewne cząsteczki, nad którymi pracuje Malcolm.  Jednak są one również potrzebne tajemniczemu, czarnemu łucznikowi do  realizacji jego okrutnego planu. Okazuje się, że Tommy Merlin w zemście za śmierć Thea chce wymazać Glades z powierzchni miasta za pomocą skradzionym cząsteczek. Oli udaje się go powstrzymać, dzięki pomocy Diga oraz tutejszej Laurel. Jednak mimo wykonania misji dla Monitora Ziemia-2 zaczyna znikać. Tylko Laurel udaje się przeżyć, która teleportuje się wraz z bohaterami na Ziemię-1. Tu Monitor ma dla nich kolejną misję.

Tymczasem Mia i zespół Williama starają się uporać z nowym wrogiem w futurospekcjach serialu. Dorosłe dzieci Arrowa współpracują z Connorem - adoptowanym synem Diga i Lyla oraz Zoe - córką Rene. Okazuje się, że ich wrogiem jest JJ - brat Connora, który kieruje zabójcami w strojach Deathstroke. Chcą przejąć władzę w mieście. Bohaterowie starają się im przeciwstawić. Connor stara się porozmawiać z bratem. Jednak to nie przynosi skutków. JJ jest bliski zabicie Mia. Ratują ją Zoe, którą JJ zabija. Connor dopada brata i jest skłonny do zabić, kiedy pojawia się oślepiające światło.

Trójka bohaterów zostaje teleportowana do siedziby Team Arrow wraz z Olivierem I Digie. Ich pojawienie zaskakuje Rene i Dinah. Olivier dzieli się ze wszystkimi informacją w sprawie misji dla Monitora. Trójka bohaterów z przyszłości decyduje się im nie mówić o śmierci Zoe oraz działaniach JJ, który w obecnych czasach ma 5 lat. Ich przemyślenia przerywa atak Deathstorków na miasto. Chcą zabić wszystkich bogatych mieszkańców Star City. Okazuje się, że przewodzi nimi syn Slade, późniejszy mentor JJ. Bohaterowie stają przed szansą zmiany historii i zapobiec wydarzeniom z ich przyszłości.

Oliver zaczyna wątpić w kosmitę. Wychodzi na to, że ich wykonanie może  się wiązać ze śmiercią innych, a nawet cały światem. Postanawia zdobyć o  nim więcej informacji. W tym celu udaje się do Nanad Pardad dowiedzieć  się czy Liga Zabójców w swoich archiwach nie posiada o nim informacji.  Okazuje się, że pierwszy założyciel Ligi spotkał kiedyś już Monitora.  Olivier dowiaduje się, że Monitor może doprowadzić do końca świata,  zamiast jemu zapobiec. Lyla kontaktuje się z Monitorem, okazuje się, że  nie tylko Olivier został zwerbowany do wykonywania jego misji.  Monitor próbuje przeciągnąć na swoją stronę Laurel, aby zdradziła Oliviera. Obiecuje jej w zamian przywrócenie Ziemii-2. Ta jednak postanawia powiadomić Oliviera o planie monitora oraz o Lyli. Monitor postanawia z nimi “porozmawiać” zamykając ich w dniu, który przeżywają od nowa. Tam zdają sobie sprawę, że Monitor przybył, aby im pomóc, a Lyla od dawna pomagała mu w wyborze bohaterów, którzy mają pomóc w nadchodzącym Kryzysie. Dodatkowo Olivier dowiaduje się, że cokolwiek by nie zrobił jej los pozostaje niezmienny. W zamian za obronę Ziemii przed katastrofą i ochronę swojej rodziny zginie. Z tym faktem nie chce pogodzić się Mia, która nie miała sposobności na spędzenie życia ze swoim ojcem.

Monitor przenosi bohaterów na Lian Yu, gdzie zaczęła się przygoda Oliviera w zostaniu bohaterem. Wraz z resztą ma zbudować broń. Jednak moc energia wyspy przywróciła do życia jego dawnych wrogów. Gdy im to się udaje zaczyna się saga rozłożona na wszystkie seriale DC. W niej dowiadujemy się, że Kryzys tak naprawdę spowodował sam Monitor. Dawno temu był ambitnym uczonym zamieszkującym daleki świat. Jego chęć poznania początku świata spowodowała uwolnienie się antymaterii i Anty-Monitora, który za cel obrał sobie zniszczenie wszystkich światów. Do jego ratowania bohaterowie łączą siły. Jednak to nie pomaga. Olivier ginie. Ziemia  zostaje pochłonięta przez antymaterię. Została tylko garstka bohaterów, która zdołała w porę uciec. Ci przewodzeni przez ducha Oliviera przenoszą się do czasów Anty-Monitora, aby jeszcze raz się z nim zmierzyć. Okazało się, że wybrani bohaterowie są Wzorami pewnych wartości, dzięki czemu ich połączone moce niszczą Anty-Monitora. Ostatkiem sił Oliver daje zaczątek nowemu mulitiświatowi. Ostatecznie po wszystkim ponosi śmierć.

Akcja serialu przenosi się do 2040. Po ofierze Oliviera od 20 lat nie było problemów z przestępczością. Mia jest obecnie celebrytką i planuje ślub z JJ. Od dzieciństwa wychowywała się ze swoim bratem Williamem. Tym problematycznym synem Diga w tej linii czasu jest Connor. Tą sielankę przerywa przybycie Laurel, która odnajduje Dinah, obecnie właścicielkę baru i prosi ją o pomoc. Okazuje się, że ostatniej nocy została porwana córka szefa mafii. Jej śmierć spowoduje, że miasto pogrąży się w chaosie. Laurel chce temu zapobiec. Odnajdują Mia, która właśnie świętuje zakończenie studiów. Mia nie pamięta ich. Dzięki urządzeniu Cisco (z Flasha) Laurel przywraca jej pamięć. Na początku Mia ma do niej pretensje. Do tej pory prowadziła dobre życie, o którym kiedyś mogła pomarzyć. Decyduje się na jednorazową pomoc. W wyniku śledztwa odkrywają, gdzie przetrzymywana jest Bianka. Za porwaniem stał jej chłopak. Jednak okazuje się, że ktoś inny wydaje rozkazy, a dodatkowo wraz z nimi pojawiają się spore oddziały wyszkolonych ludzi. Jednym znakiem mogącym wskazać na osobę stojącą za wszystkim jest tatuaż na ramieniu chłopaka. Mia decyduje się jednak prowadzić podwójne życie. Wraz z bratem udaje się pod pomnik ojca. Zostają zaatakowani, a Will zostaje porwany. Tymczasem JJ napada tajemniczy nieznajomy i przywraca mu pamięć, podobnie jak uczyniła to Laurel córce Oliviera. JJ przywdziewa strój Deathstorke.

Question of the week!!!

The Man with the Deathstroke

Storyboard for the unmade Affleck Batman film by Jay Oliva

Robin Watching: 603/∞

Damian Wayne as Robin (Unmasked)

Image Source

Deathstroke #32 by Carlo Pagulayan & Roberto Viacara

Reseña: Justice League

Lo bueno, lo malo y lo que no vimos

Por Sergio Osvaldo Valdés Arriaga, 22/11/17.

Tuve sentimientos encontrados al salir de Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) —y aun hoy en día los sigo teniendo— y podría parecer que el caso habría de repetirse nuevamente con Justice League, secuela directa a los eventos desencadenados tras la muerte de Superman, sin embargo, al menos las cosas logran sentirse diferentes para el universo cinematográfico de DC. 

Y recordemos que meses antes de su estreno, se daría a conocer que Zack Snyder, el infame director del proyecto, se mantendría alejado de la misma para lidiar con cuestiones personales, una situación que el estudio de Warner Bros. capitalizaría al máximo trayendo a Joss Whedon (The Avengers y Avengers: Age of Ultron) al mando, siendo este último el responsable de filmar los reshoots, mejorar la interacción entre sus personajes y, asimismo, culminar con la fase de la postproducción. 

Por su parte, los ejecutivos de Warner nos aseguraron que la película seguía respetando la visión creativa de Snyder y que el trabajo de Whedon iba en sincronía con este, por lo que no había que suponer ideas erróneas sobre sus procedimientos y que el resultado sería justo aquel que se nos prometió hace tiempo pero, si nos somos totalmente sinceros los unos con los otros, creo que del año pasado para acá, la película, definitivamente, cambió demasiado. 

Y al ser ese el caso, la pregunta en cuestión se vuelve la siguiente: ¿cambió para bien?

Lo bueno

La mala recepcion de Batman v Superman fue igual de abrumadora para Warner, razón por la que decidieron traer a Geoff Johns, prolífico escritor de DC Comics, a que se les uniera a su universo cinematográfico —dejando de lado a los Snyder— y una de las promesas que tanto él, como el resto del estudio, nos hicieron fue que el tono iba a cambiar y, en efecto, así fue. Lo mejor de Justice League recae en las interacciones y dinámicas entre sus personajes, así como el humor impregnado durante varios momentos que, sin contar con Wonder Woman (2017), por primera vez sentí que estos personajes verdaderamente eran los héroes de DC. 

El rol de Superman (Henry Cavill) —por favor ignoremos el cómo lo trajeron de vuelta— se cimienta como otro de sus aspectos positivos, pues en tan sólo un par de minutos nos entregaron al hombre de acero que tanto anhelábamos ver en la pantalla grande; solamente tuvieron que matarlo —tanto literal como metafóricamente— para por fin conseguirlo. ¿Quién lo diría? 

Y una vez resuelto el conflicto, la cinta muestra al aclamado equipo de superhéroes posando frente al sol —así como Jor-El predijo alguna vez— lo cual sin lugar a dudas nos deja con la esperanza de que las cosas mejoren para este universo que si bien parece haberse enderezado, aun le quedan varios pendientes para nivelarse apropiadamente y triunfar por su propia cuenta, ante lo cual la pregunta se mantiene: ¿podrán hacerlo?

Lo malo

Desafortunadamente, son muchos los problemas que enfrenta Justice League. En momentos peca en su montaje, similar a casos previos como en Batman v Superman y Suicide Squad (2016), aunque nunca sin caer tan bajo como ellos, lo cual responde directamente a los reshoots de Joss Whedon en un intento desesperado de Warner por intentar ¨salvar la película¨. El problema es que con Zack Snyder en la silla del director, sus argumentos tienden a ser largos y pesados por lo que mucho de su material fue cortado, eliminado, replanteado y re-grabado como hablaremos más adelante. A lo que voy con esto es que vimos dos películas diferentes en lugar de una sola y esto se debe a la interferencia de Warner —y su falta de confianza y, por ende, de planeación—, aunque al mismo tiempo, si Warner no hubiera interferido, quizás la visión de Snyder no hubiera satisfecho las necesidades del público —incluyéndome—. 

Y hablando de faltas de planeación, ¿para qué matar a Superman si lo tenemos que traer de vuelta inmediatamente? Su sacrificio pasó sin pena ni gloria pues no sentí que este nuevo mundo en verdad lo echara de menos y, a pesar de que la secuencia de créditos y un par de pésimos diálogos de exposición aseguran lo contrario, me temo que estas no son suficientes razones como para tener que resucitar al hombre de acero; ni siquiera Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) es una, pues la liga como quiera iba a encargarse de detenerlo en cualesquiera que fuera su maléfico plan que, por cierto, Steppenwolf se convierte en uno de los peores villanos que he visto; es igual de olvidable que los villanos de Marvel Studios y, para su desgracia, en ningún momento la película se detiene para aclarar sus motivaciones, antecedentes y los objetivos que tiene en mente en cuanto a su misión por conquistar el planeta —ni mucho menos su relación con Darkseid—.

Aparte de esto, su controversial aspecto en CGI y sus espantosos y patéticos diálogos lo coronan como el eslabón más débil de la película que, por si fuera poco, Justice League es la prueba de que Warner no tiene ni idea de lo que está haciendo en cuanto a construir este universo se refiere —y si alguna vez lo supo, hasta ahorita están intentando cambiar de dirección—, lo cual es una verdadera lástima porque mientras no se pongan las pilas, nunca podrán despegar como se debe y sus filmes más ambiciosos seguirán enfrentando las mismas dificultades y obstáculos. En el caso de Wonder Woman, no creo que Warner tuviera demasiadas expectativas sobre la película y por ello decidieron dejar que Patty Jenkins hiciera lo suyo para así concentrarse de lleno en este otro proyecto, dándole no solo mayor libertad a la directoria, sino también sobre protegiendo el filme de Snyder. 

La música, uno de los componentes claves en este universo cinematográfico, tampoco logra sobresalir, lo cual es un reverendo desperdicio porque incluía los temas de Batman del ´89 y el Superman de Christopher Reeves en su banda sonora, los cuales resultaron opacados ante los efectos sonoros. Y ya para cerrar con esta categoría, no existe nada peor que saber que Jesse Eisenberg volverá en su papel de Lex Luthor y, peor aun, en contra de la freaking Liga de la Justicia. 

Lo que no vimos (la versión de Snyder)

Al terminar la película no pude dejar de preguntarme cuál habría sido la versión completa de Snyder antes de que Whedon interviniese y sin muchos problemas me he encontrado con un artículo que señala las escenas que fueron extendidas, quitadas y/o cambiadas según el guion original. Entre ellas, se mostraba la relación de Barry Allen/Flash (Ezra Miller) con Iris West, así como el flashback que explicaba el accidente de Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher) y una mayor explicación sobre las motivaciones de Steppenwolf. Asimismo, en el flashback de la primera gran batalla contra Steppenwolf, había diálogos entre el Linterna Verde, Zeus, Ares, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) y Antiope (Robin Wright). 

También aparecía Vulko (Willem Dafoe) junto con Mera (Amber Heard) después del ataque en la Atlántida y ambos tenían una discusión con Aquaman (Jason Momoa) sobre lo que este debía hacer. Mera quiere que Aquaman reclame el trono porque ¨no confía en Orm¨ mientras que Vulko le dice que siga su corazón, a lo que Aquaman responde que siente que es su responsabilidad ayudar a los humanos. Otra de las escenas eliminadas revela que Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) cree que, según una pesadilla que tuvo, Steppenwolf resucitará a Superman y que para evitarlo, ellos deben hacerlo primero. 

Deathstorke (Joe Manganiello) encabeza el escape de Luthor antes de separarse para volver a reunirse después en la que seguramente fue la escena postcréditos que vimos. Por otro lado, en la granja Kent, Clark no puede controlar sus poderes por completo e incluso está a punto de atacar a unos civiles hasta que Lois Lane (Amy Adams) lo calma y, de la misma manera, Martha (Diana Lane) lo ayuda a concentrarse. Más adelante, Clark tiene otra visión con su padre (Kevin Costner) en donde acepta su posición como Superman, confirma su matrimonio con Lois y decide ayudar a la liga. Además, visita a Alfred (Jeremy Irons) en busca de su traje.

Previo a la batalla final, durante la conversación entre Bruce y Diana (Gal Gadot), Bruce confiesa que está dispuesto a morir en combate mientras que en la escena del Batimóvil, Batman está a punto de enfrentarse a su muerte hasta que Wonder Woman y Aquaman lo salvan y lo hacen entrar en razón. Cyborg muere a manos de Steppenwolf e intenta convencer a Superman de que se le una. Y por medio de una visión, vemos a Darkseid, así como fragmentos de la pesadilla de Bruce hasta que Superman logra evadirla y derrotar a Steppenwolf, quien muere a manos de Darkseid y planea visitar la Tierra para ¨conocer al Kriptoniano¨. 

Aquaman se reencuentra con Mera con intenciones de regresar, al igual que Barry hace lo mismo con Iris y, junto a Bruce, tienen contemplado reconstruir a Cyborg. Por alguna razón, Lois le presenta a su editor, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), a Clark Kent como Superman y la escena después de los créditos es Bruce siendo visitado por Tomar-Re y Kilowog, dos Linternas Verdes. 

Como verán, la cinta no hace más que nada expandir en sus personajes, aunque en algunas cuantas ocasiones, se hizo bien en eliminar ciertas escenas pero. en general, la película parece no estar tan descarrilada como uno podría imaginar. Aun así, los cambios que hizo Whedon se agradecen pues hizo de la liga un equipo más fácil de sobrellevar en pantalla. 

Veredicto

Justice League no es la película que quería ni mucho menos la que esperaba pero, ¿era la película que necesitábamos? Tal vez. Tal vez porque, como dije antes, los cambios en el tono y particularmente, en sus personajes, ayudan a digerir más fácilmente los acontecimientos de la trama y, si bien es claro que la película no es perfecta, al menos las audiencias tienden a disfrutarla. Yo mismo la disfruté en muchas partes pues aprecio lo que han hecho con los personajes, sin embargo, también creo que Zack Snyder no es la opción indicada para encabezar este universo y que por ello, necesitan planificar bien su futuro, si es que todavía queda alguno pues, tristemente, su recaudación en taquilla no ha sido la esperada. 

En verdad espero que esta no sea la última vez que veamos a la Liga de la Justicia en acción y que, si la volvemos a ver, ahora sea en un filme más coherente, mejor escrito, más ambicioso y mucho mejor planeado, pero con el mismo espíritu de humor, heroísmo y esperanza que finalmente lograron conseguir tanto en este filme como el de Wonder Woman. 

Quizás en estos momentos el futuro no luzca tan brillante para DC pero sólo el tiempo nos dirá si el mundo está a dispuesto a brindarles una nueva oportunidad a estos héroes. 

Deathstork the Hunted #0

For a comic book that I'm fairly certain will chug mild to average amounts of donkey semen, this cover is pretty cool. Except for Deathstork's elf shoes.

Holy fucking fuck balls with spicy fuck sauce. I know in my Team Titans Annual #2 commentary I mentioned how much DC and Marvel wanted to be Image around this time but I sincerely forgot just how much. I think I can rest my case with this advert for a new Doctor Fate comic book.

"This is what our audience wants, boys! I guess we have to give it to them!" To be fair, I actually love this cover and I really want to fucking read this comic book now.

The cover of Team Titans was proof of my argument much in the same way that the low-level Chernobyl radiation detectors were proof that there'd been a radiation leak. This is like finally getting their hands on something that could measure extreme levels of radiation and everybody suddenly shitting themselves. I could make the argument that this is just DC still trying to capture that whole X-Factor X-men hype and McFarlane's Spider-man days. But that's all really just the precursor to Image. For whatever reason, these guys made art that made fangenders ruin the couch they were sitting on. Not that I ever ruined a couch I was sitting on over their art. But I know a few jerks who definitely did! Anyway, that Marvel stuff was just the prologue or the opening chapters of Image. And DC definitely would dip their toes in this fucked up poison art well many, many times before the industry nearly collapsed under the weight of all the extra stress lines drawn all over every character's face. And also maybe the pouches and the bullets. Oh, and maybe the variant and foil covers. Currently, Checkmate and other government agencies are hunting Deathstork because he did the worst thing in all of history. I don't know what that thing is yet but I'm sure there'll be a flashback. Remember, Zero Hour was all about touching up everybody's origin stories and slightly recontextualizing the current story arcs. Maybe some changed dramatically but since I certainly didn't read many of them and I've done no research, how am I supposed to speak with authority and also know I'm speaking the truth?! Let me just state facts in a way that sounds like I know what I'm talking about so I don't have to do any real work and not be embarrassed by constantly being called out by Actually Nerds. Before Deathstork dies (or kills everybody chasing him, more probably), he remembers what happened to him three weeks ago. He was visiting the Hmong whorehouse in New York (where Rose and a bunch of other children were being raised) to find out what happened to one of them that was seriously injured. She told a story about tying up a senator and then making him wait while she sat in the bathroom. While waiting, some guy in an omega outfit broke in and shot him dead. She jumped out a window, landed on her face, and blacked out.

Ahem. She landed on her face, artist!

The prostitute must have noticed the assassin was a big dumbfuck because how could he not know a prostitute was in the house? The senator was tied up and the assassin made a crack about the senator's wife knowledge of this event before killing the senator. Anyway, Deathstork will probably be framed for this. And maybe the murder of a few other senators because why would it be such a big deal if he killed just one?! It turns out the senator gets replaced by a double who has access to Clinton. His plan to blow himself up while jogging with Clinton is foiled by Deathstork when Deathstork shoots him from a helicopter. Afterward, the government thinks Deathstork was out to kill Clinton as well so now he's Deathstork the Hunted. The whole thing was some plot by some guy from Zandia named Crimelord. I think Zandia is where Brother Blood is from. It's sort of like Qurac. It's just a place where DC can house all of their terrorists so nobody gets upset when they use the wrong race of people as terrorists. It just makes comic books easier! Although it really seems more like a dog whistle of sorts. "We all know that every person living in specific countries are total terrorists! That's why people buy into places like Qurac and Zandia and Latveria. Wink, wink!" Which is kind of a weird way to go about things when, in comic books, you could easily just have a super villain be from any country without automatically being a representative example of the people from that country. It's not like everybody blames every American for The Joker! Or do they? Oh man, what an international public relations nightmare that guy's been! No wonder people in Europe can't stand Americans! Fucking Joker! Deathstork the Hunted #0 Rating: C. So that's the big Zero Hour twist on Deathstork! He's now the most wanted man in America where before he was just the greatest assassin in America but also kind of a good guy so people like Batman and Superman mostly just shrugged their shoulders and let him be. Although once every few years, they have to battle him, just to show that they're keeping an eye on him so he doesn't get too out of control. Although isn't Batman at least partly responsible for every one of Slade's murders simply because Batman never tries too hard to bring him in?

Nagyon sokat csúszik a Deathstorke bemutatója

A rendező elfoglaltsága miatt éveket késik a Deathstroke bemutató #DCComics #Deathstroke #GarethEvans

A tegnapi hír után itt egy szomorú hírrel folytatjuk, merthogy éveket késik a Deathstroke spin-off bemutatója.

Gareth Evans rendező megerősítette, hogy nem áll jól a Deathstroke szénája, hiszen 2020-ig egy tévésorozat munkálata miatt nem lesz ideje foglalkozni Slade Wilson (Deathstroke) önálló filmjével. Viszont gyorsan leszögezte, hogy ez nem jelenti azt, hogy dobták volna a projektet, s még az…

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@thearcalian

So....in rebirth, they delberately threw out the old titans vs Deathstorke continuity....so they could start the rivalry again for a completely different and possibly more stupid reason?  I almost hate to say this, but this may be one issue on which New 52 was LESS fucked up

Actually, Christoper Priest, Deathstroke’s current writer, spoke out about it. Lazarus Contract will as one of its goals establish that in Rebirth continuity Slade’s rivalry with Teen Titans did happen and what form it took. In particular, it will reference Judas Contract and explain how those events unfolded after all those reboots (Priest hinted they might be removing Slade having sex with Terra, for example). This is something both he and Titans writer Dan Abnett need to do if they want to complete fixing what New 52 did to Titans and Deathstroke and more firmly establish their history, because of how influential Judas Contract was on their mythos.

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