Fan Film Friday: Batman Vs. Iron Man

This week's offering is a clever piece of editing from the Iron Man and Dark Knight film trilogies. While not perfect, it is incredibly clever. Try to spot the one moment where the creator messes up.

Six Stupid Things Fanboys Say

Nowhere near as nice as they appear in this picture

 

Face it; we’re all fanboys/girls in some way or another. All of us have things we like more than other things. But comics seem to have a special breed of people who say some pretty stupid stuff.  Most of this is said in rage, but some of it in sheer ignorance. While these arguments can be entertaining, most of it makes me weep for the species. Below are nine comments made by fanboys that I believe need to be made illegal.

1.       “[Comic X] is a money-grab!”

I’ll start with the most confusing one first. This one has been levelled regularly at DCs New 52, but generally, fanboys lob this one at any major change to their favourite comics. The idea runs thus; the really good comics are made out of pure love for the art form and nothing else, whereas the bad ones are made only to make money.

Actually, fanboy, any comic that has a pricetag is made to make money. Publishing houses are businesses; their goal is to make money. The old DCU was every bit the money grab that the New 52 is. Marvel wants your money just as much as DC do- it’s part of being a business. Does that make the bad comics good? No. Does it mean that even the good ones are money-grabs? Yes!

2.       “[Character from Company X] could beat [Character from company Y]!”

I hate- let me say it again, HATE arguments about whether a character from DC could beat a character from Marvel. Let me make this clear; Hulk could not beat Superman and Superman could not beat Hulk- not because either one is weaker than the other, but because they live in separate universes.

But what makes this a stupid thing to say is the assumption that a fan of the opposing company is suddenly going to go “oh, I guess I like this really amazing character less now.” For those who haven’t left Neverland, that never happens! Instead, a long and very uninteresting flamewar commences. Why do fanboys think anything else would happen?

3.        “I can give FACTS for why [Company X] is worse than [Company Y}!”

The stupid part about this comment is that no, you can’t. You’re judging an aesthetic experience; how much joy someone gets out of consuming a story. That can’t be done with sales figures for movies. It can’t be done by talking about the company’s gross profits for the last quarter. It can’t even be done by comparing the stories themselves, since all you’re doing is drawing a list of things you do and don’t like and asking another person to make theirs.

This means that instead of fanboyism, fans actually have to maturely accept that some people, in a world of around seven billion, like different things. Though, I know.

4.       Anything involving a meme

Thanks to memes, sarcasm is now only the third lowest form of humour, and American Pie movies are only the second. I won’t spend too much time on this. I’ll simply say that if your argument was unconvincing in text, adding a picture won’t help.

5.       “[Company X] will always be better than [Company Y]!”

This is an argument that more follows movies. DC fans were saying it when The Dark Knight was released, Marvel fans have been doing it since The Avengers. Again, this argument relies on the idea that everyone likes the same things- they don’t.

It also assumes that the entertainment industry is a stagnant entity. It isn’t. A film outselling another  isn’t a death sentence- it’s a challenge. And that challenge is always eventually met. This is the sort of thing that drives growth in the industry. When you say that Company X will never be better than Company Y, what you’re also saying is that Company Y will never get any better, and that, eventually, it will come to bore you.

Fanboys should want competition. They should want their favourite publishers to push their own limits and reach their absolute best time and time again. Yes, that means occasionally being the loser, but that’s the kind of thing that drives these companies to be winners in the end.

6.        “You only don’t like [Company X] because you’re a [Company Y] fan!”

I’ve saved the stupidest for last. The idea is that Marvel fans cannot possibly “get” DC (and vice versa) and therefore are not qualified to criticise it. But why are there differences between Marvel and DC fans? Fanboys like to pretend that it’s because the other side is shallow and unintelligent. But the real case is that fans of Marvel like what Marvel has been doing, and fans of DC like what DC have been doing. The reason they don’t like the other company is that, simply put, the other company hasn’t been providing to their needs the way that their favourite has. It’s not a reason to say that the other side is rubbish, but it is a perfectly good reason to like one company over another. There is a reason the person you’re criticising is a Marvel/DC fan!

So that’s it. What are some other arguments you’re sick of seeing from fanboys? Leave a comment below.

What's next for the Teen Titans?

"Why... Why would Scott Lobdell do this to us?"

I’m not sure if people are really mourning this series or not.

Along with Nightwing, Superman Unchained and Suicide Squad, Teen Titans are being cancelled in November. Unlike Nightwing, whose story was signposted to end since Forever Evil #1, DC’s young superteam is likely ending because, well... how do I say this... it’s kinda’ rubbish. Sorry, but that’s what you get when Scott Lobdell writes your stories.



But the Teen Titans are a hallmark of DC and have been since the 80s. It would be ridiculous to say that the team is gone forever. So where to next for pubescent heroes?

Superboy



 

So we can expect Superboy to be going... nowhere, at the moment. Thanks to him having his own title, Superboy is still having adventures outside of the Teen Titans. The separation from the team, though, will likely mean a more interesting Superman clone for his post-April stories. I’ll admit; I’ve only read volume 2 of Superboy’s New 52 adventures, but they seemed to suffer from Lobdell’s insistence that it be closely tied to Teen Titans. I expect we’ll see Superboy take advantage of this new autonomy and we may even get some truly great stories.

Or, at least, it will be good by Lobdell’s standards.

 

 

 

 

 

Red Robin

Tim Drake is a hugely popular character- considered to be the best Robin in Batman history. I seriously doubt that he’s going to remain out of the action for long, and if the fanboys have their way, expect a Red Robin title to hit the shelves pretty soon. The only question is; who is going to write it? Personally, I’d like to see Kyle Higgins take it on. He’s done a reasonable stint on Nightwing, and is starting his run as part of the team on Batman Eternal. He needs his own title to work on, though; and Red Robin could be it.

 

 

 

 

Kid Flash

Kid Flash was one of the most amusing characters in Teen Titans. Again, it’s unlikely that DC is just going to forget about this guy. But what to do with him becomes a heavy question. In my mind, the mostly likely option is for him to appear in The Flash. The soon to be released The Flash Annual has confirmed that Wally West will be appearing. Assuming that this doesn’t equal to Barry Allen being removed from the current DC universe, there’s no reason why there couldn’t be a place for Burt Ward. Just keep him away from Lobdell, please!

 

 

 

 

Wondergirl

Okay, I know she hates being called that, but that’s who she is. While I would love to see her get her own series, it seems clear that Cassie Sandsmark won’t be heading up her own series while refusing to give Wonder Woman another book. That just doesn’t happen. So where could she go? She seems like an alright candidate for the Outlaws. She tough-willed and has a slight mean streak, so she would fit well with Red Hood, Arsenal, and Orange Stripper Starfire. Alternatively, maybe she would find a place on Justice League United? Time will tell if that is the series for her, but for now, it’s a possibility.

 

 

 

 

Skitter, Bunker and Soulstice

Okay, let’s just admit we’ll never see these guys again. Sure, they were fun, but if someone has to go, it will be the heroes with no prior attachment to any other DC comics. Maybe, just maybe, Lobdell will utilise them in future issues of Superboy, but beyond that, don’t hope for much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DC Team of Teenagers

Of course, it’s possible that all of these will reunite under a new brand. Fan commentary definitely leans towards a Young Justice comic entering the New 52. It would be a smart move, since Young Justice definitely fared better with older fans of DC than the younger ones. The structure of Young Justice itself is also more fan-friendly than Lobdell’s Teen Titans; it utilises many DC youngsters from a wide range of DC franchises and could help to unite the New 52 in a way that the... five? Yes, five... five Justice League titles.

Any of these options would be fine, but I personally refuse to admit that Lobdell has killed the Teen Titans. They’ll be back in one form or another.

Thunderbolts Vol.1: No Quarter (Marvel NOW!)

Thunderbolts Vol.1: No Quarter (Marvel NOW!)

In my mind, they're attacking the guy
who thought this book was a good
idea

Writer: Daniel Way

Artist: Steve Dillon

Collects: Thunderbolts #1-6

Background:

The first time I heard of the Thunderbolts was while reading Civil War earlier last year. The idea was intriguing- a group of supervillains kept by the government to act as a controlled superhero team. I will admit though, that was only the impression I got from reading Civil War and thenceforth I didn’t really read any Thunderbolts titles.

Fast forward to the Marvel NOW! initiative, and we have something a lot different. Here, the Thunderbolts are a team of hardened anti-heroes who are tasked with beating bad guys all over the world. The team consists of their leader, Red Hulk Thaddaeus Ross, Agent Venom, Punisher; the dude with the guns, Elektra; the scantily-clad ninja, and Deadpool; the famous merc with a mouth.

Review:

So, I had this weird dream last night where a country that didn’t exist was ruled by an overweight dictator and the only hope for the hopeless non-white civilisation was the least trustworthy group of heroes in the Marvel universe armed with the most uninteresting dialogue and secretly carrying an obscure supervillain that nobody cared about. Then I realised: that’s just like No Quarter.

Enter the new Thunderbolts, whose job it is to take down the corrupt leader of a backwater part of the world apparently for no reason other than it’s fun. It’s all written by Daniel Way who has worked with some of Marvel’s bigger titles such as The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine and Deadpool. By all accounts a bibliography like that should mean that he would be right at home writing a book about Marvel’s most violent characters; but he just isn’t. Characters seem underutilised, dialogue is strained and the motivation for some character actions are only explained with “just because, okay!?”

For example, the collection’s first issue follows Red Hulk as he recruits the thunderbolts on to the team. Ross’ conversation with each of these characters seems to just go along the lines of “hey, wanna’ join a team?” to which the answer is continually “mmm... ‘kay.” It would be fine if there was a deeper reason for joining that was explained in the other issues, but that’s never really investigated. Because all of that character development gets in the way of the explosions.

Speaking of these characters, it’s hard to imagine that a team made up of this many tough mudders would be bland, but somehow Way manages to make them that way. Deadpool is possibly the only real flavour to the otherwise vanilla cast, and this isn’t even one of the better interpretations of Deadpool out there. He’s way too cautious and doesn’t seem to be enjoying the killing all that much. It’s a real downer for one of Marvel’s most colourful anti-heroes. The rest of the cast is too alike to each other. All of them are toughguys who take no nonsense and all of them seem pretty natural about having each other as teammates. It’s one of those things that makes the eventual kiss between Punisher and Elektra seem even more pointless than the Superman/Wonder Woman smooch in Justice League.

None of this is helped by Steve Dillon’s artwork. He has this somewhat disturbing habit of making all of the characters appear to be wearing rubber masks- regardless of whether they’re wearing masks or not. As such, every character has this weird, protruding chin and appear to be wearing copious amounts of make-up.

There is a bright side to this book, however. The action is well-done. There are plenty of gunshots, blades and things that go boom (including, most notably, the landmine attached to Punisher’s chest). But this is a very small bright side as by the time you’re halfway through the book, you don’t actually care who wins the fights. There are plenty of big moments, but it feels gratuitous as it achieves nothing a reader would care to see happen.

I wanted to like No Quarter, I really did. Unfortunately, very little about this book actually appealed to me.  No Quarter gets a one out of five quarters

*

+ Action scenes are fun

- Motivations make no sense

- Characterisation is dull

- Art is weird and false-looking

- You never care what happens to this team... never!

Alternate Option: Anything else in Marvel Now!

Marvel Now! has some really great titles, but this isn’t one of them.

Fan Film Friday: Transformers- The War Within

Back when Dreamwave held the Transformers licence, they produced a comic called The War Within- a backstory for Optimus Prime and the whole war.

TFcog produced this beautiful animated version from the comic's actual pages. Enjoy!

What's Next for Dick Greyson?

He came in strong, but what's he going to do when he goes out?

 

So it was recently announced that DC was officially cancelling a large amount of titles. Among them were Teen Titans, which never really lived up to its potential, Superman Unchained, which had a rocky start, but was finally getting good and Suicide Squad. None of these came as surprises to me, but what knocked me flat, the one that caused me to die a little inside, was the cancellation of Nightwing. April’s #30 is the last we’ll see of the former boy wonder as one of the coolest Batman spinoffs in history. I’ll admit that the last two volumes of the series were not the best points in Nightwing’s run, but I was really hoping for him to pull ahead as he has the potential to do.

But it’s something I should have seen coming; with Nightwing’s big identity reveal at the beginning of Forever Evil, it was a given that Nightwing would likely end. But this is only the end of Nightwing. Presumably, Dick Greyson is still around. He’s a great character with a huge fandom behind him. What could happen to keep Greyson fighting crime? Below are my theories;

A New Civilian Identity?

Could Greyson change his civilian identity and still work as Nightwing, allowing for a new Nightwing series to start (or maybe as part of the Justice League United)? He could fake his own death, take on a new name, get plastic surgery, change his hair and all of a sudden, the world thinks it has a new Nightwing on the scene. It could add something truly interesting to Greyson as he tries to maintain a secret identity within a secret identity... hmm... Identiception?

A New Hero?

While I would prefer Dick to stay as both Nightwing and Dick Greyson, that likely isn’t going to happen (unless either of my next two ideas come to light). So why not give him a new costume and a new hero name? He’s been Batman perfectly well without sacrificing who he was. He may opt to take on the mantle of the new Talon; repurposed for good. He may make an entirely new identity that sees him be just as incredible. He may even find a protégé of his own to become the new Nightwing while he operates in the background as this new character’s Alfred/Oracle/Bruce in Batman Beyond.

A New World?

Everyone on Earth knows who Nightwing is. A solution? Leave Earth. One of the best things to happen to Mr. Terrific was to throw him into Earth 2. Could the same happen to Nightwing? Nobody knows Dick Greyson there, so his identity would be pretty safe. Plus, it could truly separate Nightwing from the rest of the bat-family giving him some much-needed autonomy. Alternatively, what about going back to Earth 3; hell-bent on taking out anyone connected to the Crime Syndicate? It seems like the kind of thing Nightwing would do after being traumatised the way he was. What’s more it would be a chance for Greyson to tell the Syndicate that they don’t control him- that attacking him only made him stronger!

A New Attitude?

Nightwing’s stories in the New 52 have regularly been about Dick being who he chooses to be. Maybe Dick just needs to say “to hell with secret identities, I won’t let this stand in the way of Nightwing’s mission.” Of course, without a secret identity, Dick would need some powerful allies. What about A.R.G.U.S? Could Nightwing become an agent of the government and lead a group of soldiers as they bring justice to villains worldwide? We know that Marvel have, in many cases, dispensed with secret identities. Is it so bad if Nightwing chooses to do so?

So those are my theories. What do you think? What’s next for Nightwing?

Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (The New 52)

Alright guys, now this is going on the
Christmas cards, so don't blink!

Justice League Vol.1: Origin (The New 52)

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Jim Lee

Background Information:

To be honest, I probably should have reviewed this first. Justice League is the flagship title of the DC’s New 52, and as such, volume 1 marks the first story in the series.

But let’s get on to who the Justice League actually are. Before Marvel released the first issue of the Avengers, DC gave the world the Justice League of America; a team featuring DCs most prolific heroes. Most new readers are most likely to remember the Animated Justice League cartoon of the early 2000s. A word of warning; the Justice League, like the Avengers, has changed its roster multiple times (albeit, not as dramatically), so don’t expect to see Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, or Green Lantern John Stewart in the new Justice League.

Review:

Reboots are hard to get off the ground, and DCs New 52 was no exception. When you strip away years of continuity and start afresh, you’re going to have a universe that feels less developed than what came before. So I don’t quite understand the criticism the New 52 receives for not being a well-developed universe.

Don’t get me wrong; Origin is far from perfect. However, the book has enough awe-inspiring moments to put it on par with Marvel’s live-action Avengers film.

“But wait,” you say “Origin is so shallow.”

To that I say, “So was The Avengers.”

You say “Origin’s plot had holes!”

To that I say “Tesseract, anyone? I mean, what exactly was it for other than being a shiny cube?”

You say “The characters are jerks!”

To that I say “So were pretty much all of the Avengers.”

Yet one of these is hailed as the greatest superhero movies of all time and one of these is regarded as the worst Justice League origin stories ever to be printed. I don’t get it.

Both have identical stories. A alien threat has come to earth and it takes the planet’s greatest heroes to stop it. In both stories, there are personality clashes. Batman doesn’t get along with Green Lantern, Green Lantern is confident he doesn’t need Batman or Superman, Superman doesn’t think he needs anyone, and Wonder Woman doesn’t care to long as there is someone to fight. It’s not a bad thing that Geoff Johns decided to have personality clashes amongst the team, but the choice to do so seemed a little obvious- almost like Johns chose the easy way out of developing characters. It’s a strange choice for the man who is now considered to be the best writer at DC, and their creative chief. Thankfully, he doesn’t completely resolve that at the end. Green Lantern still refuses to see the League as permanent team at the end of the collection, even if the world does. I find this a little more believable than the quick and easy “hey, we fought together, now we like each other” resolutions.

The plot is interesting enough to keep the book going, and it feels like a shorter read than its six issues actually are, but there are a couple of plot holes. I’m going to leave the New 52s five-year history to other writers to complain about (as there is really only one issue I have with it). Instead I will mention two things that bothered about the plot:

Firstly, Batman removes his mask to Green Lantern. I’m not entirely sure why he did this, and Johns doesn’t make it explicit in his writing. I’m assuming that Batman did it to show Green Lantern that he trusts him, but the actual reason is never made clear.

Secondly, Green Lantern and Flash talk about a time where they beat up a talking Gorilla together. I’m assuming they’re talking about Gorilla Grodd, and that’s fine; but Gorilla Grodd is supposed to appear for the first time in The Flash: Move Forward. So which gorilla-based foe are they talking about here?

They’re small matters, though; especially when the action in Origin is so enjoyable. Each character gets big moments and it really feels like a team book. That’s something I didn’t feel that The Avengers had (I feel that it was basically Iron Man 2.5, actually). I’m glad to say that I didn’t feel like any character got truly “shafted” here just so Batman could look cooler. It’s a trap that a lot of team books fall into and I’m glad that Johns handled it right.

Once you accept that Origin is a fairly shallow experience, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The trick though, is to understand that you’re reading a universe where not much has happened yet, so there won’t be the same relation between characters and there won’t be the same history as there was before. Origin gets a three out of five shiny cubes.

***

+ Action is great

+ All characters get spotlight

- Some plotholes are hard to ignore

Alternate Option: Justice League: New Frontier

Reportedly the best Justice League origin story around.