Produced by Princeton Holt
Written and Directed by Brian Ackley
Starring George Katt, Jen L. Burry,
Taylor Negron

I love a good alien movie. The hopes of encountering an undiscovered species that will most likely result to the destruction of mankind in a speculator explosive way. Or a genius alien invasion like Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 which explores the human psyche and race relations.

Then there’s Brian Ackley’s low-budget sci-fi thriller Alienated which manages to destroy whatever fun, mysterious, or psychologically enticing possibility imaginable by pulling a switch-and-bait on its audience.

What starts off as a promising movie about an impending invasion and the fear of the unknown becomes a painstakingly draining tale about the downfalls of marriage.

Alienated introduces us to Nate (George Katt) and Paige (Jen Burry) a miserable married couple who is determined to make us suffer with their hatred for one another. During one of their many explosive arguments, they make the decision that it’s best they spend time apart. However, there’s just one small issue, there’s an alien spaceship hovering in the distance. When airplanes start mysteriously falling out of the sky and cell towers fail across the nation, Nate (just like the audience) is trapped.

To hate Alienated is just not that simple. At its core, it’s about human emotion and what happens when we are forced to face life’s darkest fears. Like Roman Polanski’s Carnage, the entire film takes place in the close quarters of a house; forcing the couple to deal with deep-rooted problems they’ve ignored for years. Sparring back-and-forth with each other, they both shoulder the blame but deal with it drastically different. However you can’t help but to feel disgusted by both parties.

Equally self-centered, volatile and hypocritical, it’s hard to like, let alone, root for anyone. While their outbursts seem unjustified and unpredictable, their tension has been brewing for years — hanging over them like the aliens hovering in the nearby skies. However, their banter soon becomes tiresome as you find yourself longing for the aliens to whisk them both away so this movie can reach its ending.

Communication is ultimately the downfall of this movie; communication between the characters and communication with the audience (where’s my invasion, damn it?). While Nate is trapped in the house, there’s never any sense of fear or loss. Unlike Chris Gorak’s Right At Your Door, the movie lacks a real threat. Despite the threat of an invasion, the script focuses so much on the couple that you keep forgetting why Nate doesn’t just leave the house. Because of that, you’re forced to suffer through Nate’s suffocating presence.

Katt and Bury do the best they can with their roles. However their admirable stamina cannot save this 80-minute scream-fest. Painfully repetitious, this movie feels like one long therapy session with a married couple who should have never met each other.

Alienated is now playing on Amazon Prime

Produced by Jeanmarie Condon,
John Ridley, Fatima Curry
Written and Directed by John Ridley
Featuring Tim Goldman, Michael Moulin,
Mark Jackson, Donald Jones, Henry Watson,
Kee Ha, Bobby Green, Damian Williams,
Gary Williams, Georgiana Williams

The powerful new documentary by John Ridley (an Oscar winner for his script for 12 Years a Slave and creator of the TV series American Crime), details the events leading up to the LA riots of 1992 and gives us pieces of the story many of us never knew before.

Going back 10 years, it documents the culture of overly aggressive policing instituted by LAPD Chief Daryl Gates and the tensions between the black and Korean communities in South Central LA, which became the epicenter of the riots.

It’s a well-researched and incredibly emotional story that weaves together several points of view from that fateful day — including victims, police, attorneys, and bystanders.

On April 29, 1992, Angelenos were stunned to hear that the four officers on trial for the vicious beating of Rodney King were acquitted. Within minutes of the verdict, LA began to burn: The long-simmering resentment and bitterness at decades of unchecked police violence exploded in violent rioting that went largely unchecked for three days.

Because King died in 2012 and the four officers — Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno — tried for his beating refused to cooperate with the film, they’re represented via existing news footage and interviews.

The toughest part of the whole film is watching those smug bastards defend themselves on camera, and their gloating after their acquittal. And for everyone yelling “I hope you burn in hell,” as they leave the Simi Valley courtroom, there was someone else yelling, “Atta boy, Stacy!”

The film begins in 1982, with the death of James Mincey Jr., just one of the city’s black men who died of a chokehold in police custody. Those chokeholds were later outlawed — and replaced by the use of metal batons to subdue suspects.

The various merits of both uses of force are debated throughout, as is the troubling perception by many police that any suspect who resisted arrest had to be high on PCP, and thus required extraordinary force to subdue.

Robert J. Simpach, an officer who was on the scene for Mincey’s death, shrugs off the incident as “too bad,” but says he felt no guilt, not even when he learned Mincey left behind a pregnant girlfriend (who is also interviewed in the film). It’s no surprise when we learn later on that this same officer was also on the scene for the notorious Rodney King beating. It’s an incident he describes as “100 percent LAPD policy,” despite Gates’s later insistence that the violent beating was an “aberration.”

It’s astonishing not just to hear Simpach defending Gates’s anti-black statements and brutal methods, but that he agreed to cooperate with the film at all. (Gates, who stepped down after the riots, died in 2010).

Another unlikely commentator: One of the jurors who voted to acquit the four officers in one of the most high-profile cases in LA history. He shares that he went in thinking the cops were guilty, only to be convinced during the course of the trial that they were “just doing their job” and that what they did “wasn’t against the law.” The man’s own revelation that he discovered he’s a quarter black — the jury contained no black members — elicits nothing but an eye roll, especially since he offers no apologies or second thoughts  about the verdict.

Terry White, who prosecuted the four cops, provides some of the most interesting commentary. I wouldn’t be surprised if the case isn’t eventually given the “American Crime Story” treatment since it’s every bit as fascinating as the O.J. Simpson trial.

When we meet the commentators in the film, we don’t know where they will end up fitting into the riots: We learn some lost loved ones, some heroically saved victims during the riots and some were out there committing some of the worst violence. It’s an interesting approach that builds sympathy for each person’s story — up to a point — and leaves you wondering what you would have done in the midst of the chaos. Would you risk your own life to save a complete stranger?

Unless you’re well-versed in the riots, you might not recognize the names that are revealed to be members of the infamous LA Four, who brutally attacked truck driver Reginald Denny. They are presented neutrally, without judgment, which might be a sticking point for some viewers. Denny himself does not appear in the film.

While many people seem to think the explosive violence of the 1992 riots came out of nowhere, Ridley carefully demonstrates how and why they happened.

He doesn’t make the point that the same injustices exist today and how it’s likely to happen all over again. He doesn’t need to.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Let It Fall premieres tonight, Friday, April 28, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC

I grew up in a time when sequels to popular and influential movies typically arrived at swift 2- to 3-year intervals.

Star Wars, James Bond, Star Trek, the first two Indiana Jones flicks, Rocky, Rambo, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street—in the decade of the 1980s, you could set your calendar by the regularity of their release patterns. We were so spoiled for it that when a movie like T2 Trainspotting comes along after a twenty-year gap, it’s hard not to stop dead in your tracks—pun intended—and contemplate the magnificent breadth of life experience encompassed in that space of time. You don’t usually think about this stuff when you go see the latest Star Wars movie or the next X-Men flick, but with characters such as the four unrepentant hooligans at the heart of Trainspotting, who are repellent and charismatic all at once, and in whom you once saw a glimmer of a reflection of yourself or someone you love, their 20-year reunion in T2 Trainspotting carries that much more gravitas.

If it seems an unlikely proposition that Danny Boyle would make a follow-up to Trainspotting twenty years later, that’s probably because sequels to “art-house” hits are the exception to the rule, and also because the four young punks at the core of the original movie aren’t particularly admirable to begin with. They’re mates from Edinburgh who grew up together, hang out and tell funny stories together, get into schemes and fights together, and get high together, but they also steal and lie and cheat each other, and defy just about every social norm you can think of. As such, they are more mystifying than most movie characters, and at least partially reflective of the disaffected and rebellious youth of Generation XYZ—enough so that the 1996 movie became a sensation in Europe, and arrived stateside heralded as the next Pulp Fiction.

With its eclectic Brit punk/tech/pop soundtrack, a stable of hot young actors relatively new to U.S. audiences, a speedy screenplay adapted from a novel by a really hip author, and an exciting new filmmaker at the helm (this was director Danny Boyle’s second film), Trainspotting was expected to set the art house box office on fire. It performed well enough ($16 million gross on a $3.5 million budget), but not on the Pulp Fiction scale Miramax Pictures (the U.S. distributor) was hoping for. Yet, in the early days of the internet, before streaming, when most people still went to the cinema to see movies, “sleeper hits” like Trainspotting often lingered in theaters for weeks and even months solely on the strength of word-of-mouth. Like many “cult” movies or little art-house “sleeper” films, Trainspotting found an extended afterlife on home video: the de rigueur VHS cassette release; a bestselling DVD; and even a spiffy Criterion laserdisc edition with the original unintelligible Scottish brogue dialogue track.

I was hooked on Trainspotting from the very first image of Mark Renton’s footsteps pounding the pavement to the startling beat of Iggy Pop’s anthem “Lust for Life,” he and his buddies running from the cops, losing their clutch on some stolen CDs, all while the camera keeps breathless pace on their heels.

From the arresting opening montage to the final and ironical utterance of Renton’s signature “Choose Life” monologue, Trainspotting sustains a level of manic energy and demonstrates such sheer joie de cinema that it hit me like a bolt of lightning, jolting me in a way that gets me excited about the art of filmmaking.

The movie made me rush out to read the novel in order to better appreciate the art of screenplay adaptation, enticed me to purchase not one but two soundtrack compilation CDs, and lured me to queue up to experience it with an audience again—to memorize its comical banter, replay its editorial beats, repeat its song selections, and review its camera dances.

We all have subjective reasons for taking personal ownership of our favorite movies, and my many reasons for hitching onto Trainspotting have a great deal to do with where I was in my life during the summer of 1996—who my friends were, what my family was like, where I was in my “coming out” phase, and who I was intensely involved with. The fact that the four cretins at the heart of Trainspotting used needles to get high isn’t something I’ve ever identified with, but everything else about the film dazzled my senses, sparked my imagination, and stoked my love of movies.

It continues to do so two decades later, which is why I held out on seeing T2 Trainspotting until the very last showing on its very last day at my local multiplex—I feared a sequel couldn’t possibly live up to the original (spoiler alert: it doesn’t) and also that a sequel arriving so long after the original would inevitably feel like a cynical exercise in nostalgia (thankfully, it doesn’t).

I’ve remained an avid fan of Danny Boyle and will see any movie his name is attached to, and felt I owed it one of my favorite filmmakers to see this movie in the cinema. I’m glad I did. It’s not as dizzyingly paced as the original, nor does it feel as inventive, but like all of Boyle’s films, from the great (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, and of course Trainspotting) to the not-so-great (A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, Trance), there is at least a level of technological skill on display in T2, that same spark of joy for moviemaking that compensates when the screenplay don’t coalesce as well this second time around.

There is an air of melancholia in T2, but also moments of profound, quiet poignancy throughout the screenplay and many well placed call-backs to the original film that drive the plot and even shed new light on previous characters and events. When Renton recites his famous “Choose Life” speech and it derails into an aching rumination on dignified resignation in the wake of dashed hopes, it’s hard not to reflect on your own past twenty years. It helps a great deal to rekindle our emotional connection to these characters that every actor has returned, from the top of the cast to minor peripheral supporting characters.

It’s interesting also to track Boyle’s progress from the first to second Trainspotting films regarding his innovative and increased use of multiple digital cameras. Boyle shot the first Trainspotting on 35mm film, but beginning with 28 Days Later in 2003 he became one of the first mainstream directors to shoot a major motion picture with a camcorder (well, the majority of that film was shot on video; the finale was filmed on 35mm celluloid). From 28 Days Later all the way up to Boyle’s previous film Steve Jobs he has increasingly relied on video-based cinematography, though always blending it with elements of traditional celluloid film.

Here in T2 Trainspotting Boyle has completely eschewed celluloid film and gone fully, entirely digital. For a celluloid purist, this, more than any of the film’s untangled plot threads or resolved character arcs, is the most sobering and heartbreaking notion of them all.

Produced by Daniel Patrick Carbone,
Matthew Petock, Lisa Kjerulff, Zachary Shedd
Written and Directed by Zachary Shedd
Starring David Call, Kelli Garner, Frank Mosley,
Jennifer Stuckert, Peter Coyote, Jack Davenport

Avery Wells (David Call, Tiny Furniture) is an out-of-work film editor who has a very serious drinking problem.

When we first meet him he’s holed up in a remote cabin, beginning his day with a Bloody Mary that appears to be nine parts vodka, one part tomato juice.

He’s screwed up his life personally, as well: his wife has divorced him and forbid him to see their young son.

Enter Calib (Jack Davenport, Kingsman: The Secret Service), who hires Wells to edit his latest film as a favor to the film’s leading lady – and Avery’s sister – movie star Kate Wells (Kelli Garner, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe).

Avery begins doing an okay job of getting his act together but spirals out of control after his sister is murdered right in front of him. The murder is seemingly tied to a tragedy that took place a few years earlier for which Avery was inadvertently responsible.

As a sort of healing process, Avery begins to investigate his sister’s murder and turns up some surprising results.

Pretty good thriller/character study/addiction flick is an expansion of a short film of the same name by writer/director Zachary Shedd. Like many features adapted from short films, Americana feels like it would have been more effective with a shorter running time.

That said, the film also benefits from some breathing room, but said breathing room unfortunately allows the pacing to go slack from time to time.

The excellent cast helps smooth over the slow spots (also on hand is terrific character actor Peter Coyote). David Call is new to me, and I was extremely impressed with his work here. He truly captures the wounded, damaged Avery and his alcoholism feels all too real.

The cinematography (by Justin Charles Foster) and editing (Saela Davis) are also spot-on. (But seriously, there would be no excuse for shoddy editing in a movie about a film editor).

Americana certainly worked better for me as an addiction film than as a mystery/thriller. As a genre film, it has the too-laid-back feel of Soderbergh’s The Underneath (which is also a pretty good film but could have used a shot or two of adrenaline as well).

Still, there are some interesting revelations and suspenseful moments. However, you’ll likely get the most out of the worthwhile Americana if you go in expecting a solid, well-acted film about alcoholism. It’s somber but engrossing.

Americana is available now on DVD, VOD and Digital HD

Produced by David Collins,
Tim Dennison, Cormac Fox
Written and Directed by Liam Gavin
Starring Steve Oram, Catherine Walker,
Mark Huberman, Susan Loughnane

A grief-stricken young woman, Sophia, hires a schlubby occult expert, Joseph, to help her perform a months-long ritual to appeal to the gods, demons – whatever it takes – to ask for a supernatural, all-important favor, no matter the ultimate price.

And so the two hole up in a rented mansion out in the boonies, pour a line of salt around the place, and prepare to take as long as a year to complete the ritual.

As part of the deal, Sophia is to follow every command Joseph gives her, no matter how ludicrous or humiliating, in order for the ritual to work.

This gives the film a consistently creepy edge; creepy as in the usual horror story sense, and creepy as in I was always concerned that perhaps Joseph was actually a serial killer/rapist who’s seriously screwing with Sophia.

We wait for the other shoe to drop for nearly the entire running time, be it the appearance of a god or demon, Sophia and/or Joseph finally snapping, or something else entirely.

Another intriguing premise for the genre (We Go On being an additional recent example of a horror film that investigates philosophical and spiritual issues), A Dark Song‘s dramatic thrust derives from the long-in-waiting outcome of the tortuous ritual.

And tortuous it is, for both parties – although Sophia does the lion’s share of the suffering.  But, as unpleasant as they both are, and as much as they dislike each other, Sophia and Joseph form a bond.  The exploration and examination of their relationship is quite effective and often emotional.

The relationship – and the entire film – would be lost without stellar turns by the leads, and they are both superb in very difficult roles portraying very difficult characters. They’re also fascinating characters, but even with the strong script and direction by Liam Gavin, SONG would be a crushing bore were it not for Walker and Oram.

Song is methodical, to be sure; it’s meticulously paced and there really aren’t any slam-bang moments. I appreciated the manner in which the story unfolded: we get a true sense of the awfulness of the ritual, the claustrophobia of being trapped, even in a large mansion, and the constant dread/hope of something otherworldly making its presence known.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the previously mentioned We Go On, and while I liked it quite a bit, I felt it fell a bit short of achieving the premise’s potential. A Dark Song fares better; no spoilers, but the final reel is scary and smart, and feels of a piece with the film.

I must admit that I was hoping for more of a slam-bang ending, or perhaps something utterly out of left field. After thinking about the film for a week or so, I began to appreciate the wrap-up much more, as well as Gavin’s discipline as a filmmaker and storyteller.

A Dark Song is certain to be on many “best-of” genre lists in December, and this in a year already full of quality horror flicks – and it’s only April!

Even in a glutted market, horror fans should do their best to seek out A Dark Song. I, for one, can’t wait to see what Walker, Oram and Gavin do next.

A Dark Song is now playing in limited release, Digital HD and On Demand.

Produced by Michael McQuown,
Vincent J. Guastini, Haldane Morris,
Amon Zia Mahmud, Nicola Odeku
Written by Michael McQuown
Directed by Michael McQuown, Vincent J. Guastini
Starring Emilia Ares Zoryan, Danielle Baez,
Katelyn Bailey, Jonathan Biver, David Banks

This “found footage” style anthology film that intercuts numerous stories all involving a supernatural “other”.

Among the stories we get a scientific exorcism of sorts, a couple seeking help from paranormal investigators, a group of friends attempting to help someone who experienced a trauma, and a pair of devious cam-girls.

The Dark Tapes is a quality example of the “found footage” film working but is unfortunately being dumped into a crowded field of lesser “first person p.o.v.” fare.

The Dark Tapes is competently shot in a manner that establishes the visual language of the ‘first person p.o.v.’ film while not being overly hurky jerky or being distractingly shaky.

Writer Michael McQuown and co-director Vincent J. Gaustini display mountains of future potential with The Dark Tapes. Well-written characters and premises engage the viewer while knowledgeable fans will notice the use of certain genre conventions and cliché’s only for the filmmakers to defy the expectations of the genre at multiple points in the film. Although to be fair there were some questionable editing choices that pulled me out of the viewing experience causing me to ask myself questions such as, “Who is currently filming this hot?” or “How or why did someone edit together handheld video recorder footage with security camera footage and what does it actually add to the story?”

Add fantastic special effect, both practical and digital, into the mix along with a keen sense of dread provided by the lighting and art direction and The Dark Tapes comes together to form a quality and creepily effective example of modern genre storytelling. The Dark Tapes is sure to be a hit with fans of the “First Person P.O.V.” sub genre and satisfy the expectations of all who seek a good scare.

The Dark Tapes is available on HD Digital and On Demand.

Acclaimed filmmaker Guy Ritchie brings his dynamic style to the epic fantasy action adventure “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.”  Starring Charlie Hunnam in the title role, the film is an iconoclastic take on the classic Excalibur myth, tracing Arthur’s journey from the streets to the throne. When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Vortigern (Jude Law), Arthur’s uncle, seizes the crown.  Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city.  But once he pulls the sword from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy…whether he likes it or not.

Boston

For your chance to download passes to the advance screening of KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD on Monday, May 8 at 7pm at Regal Fenway 13, click HERE!

Hartford

For your chance to download passes to the advance screening of KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD on Monday, May 8 at 7pm at Bow Tie Palace, click HERE!

Remember seating is first come, first served and not guaranteed so arrive early!

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD Arrives in Theaters on May 12
kingarthurmovie.com

It is a tough one this week but Action Comics #978 wins Book Of The Week.  It’s funny because Batman Beyond was a close second and both of those were written by Dan Jurgens.

There were no books I wouldn’t recommend from those that I reviewed. There are plenty of Easter Eggs, surprises and superb writing all round with a special shout out going to Scooby-Doo and his gang who reminded me it was good to be a kid.

The Green Lanterns team up with a Time Master, Terry McGinnis tries on a new suit, Jaime Reyes tries on an old one. Barbara’s flaky personal life leads to a startling turn of events for the Cobblepott family and Lobo swaps some stern words with Batman on their bargain. Hellblazer finally gives the bad guys something to do and Diana comes face to face with a long term nemesis while the truth about Veronica Cale finally comes out.

This is my look into the DC Universe this week!

ACTION COMICS #978
The New World: Part 2
Writer: Jan Jurgens
Artist: Carlo Barberi
Inker: Matt Santorelli
Cover: Andy Kubert & Brad Anderson
Variant: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson

As Kelex plays back more of Superman’s history we discover what of the past has survived and what has merged with the present. Lois with Jonathan Carroll and Superman with Wonder Woman never happened. In fact Batman and Wonder Woman were at Jon’s birth.

While watching the records Clark swears he can hear a voice in the Fortress, though nothing can detect it. Mr. Oz appears as an apparition in the Fortress and warns Clark to back down, instead this makes Superman more determined to stop him.

Elsewhere the strange being recruiting Superman’s foes resurrects The Eradicator and inducts him into his burgeoning team. They converge on Batman’s former Lunar Batcave and introduce themselves, Blanque, Eradicator, Metallo and now Hank Henshaw. The Superman Revenge Squad is born!

RATING 5/5
Since Lois & Clark made the move over from pre-Flashpoint into the modern universe there have been so many questions, finally everything has slotted into place, everything would be right with the world except for one final part of the puzzle that is missing. This time however, even Superman is having trouble remembering him… Kon El/Conner Kent, the teen of steel, is nowhere to be seen in this newly knitted reality. Could he be the voice Clark keeps hearing?

I loved Barberi’s artwork and his take on all of Superman’s history.  I also like that Jurgens has addressed so much of what was missing and what wasn’t in Superman continuity. When the New 52 came along it was very much like they’d ‘thrown the baby out with the bath water’ now we know what is and isn’t and it was neatly done as an overview rather than a retelling so we can read the adventures for ourselves.

As a side story we have the formation of the Revenge Squad, a little fast perhaps but now there is a backstory we can move forwards without questions. I’m curious as to Henshaw’s role and to see how they work together.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #19
The Prism of Time Part 2: Ripped From Time
Writer:Robert Vendetti
Penciller: V Ken Marion
Inker: Dexter Vines
Cover: Robson Rocha, Danial Henriques, Tomeu Morey
Variant Cover: Kevin Nowlan

Rip Hunter, sporting Jon Stewart’s ring from thirty years in the future has come back in time to help the Green Lanterns survive a catastrophe that wipes them from existence.

While the Lanterns remain suspicious, Sarko, the time traveling villain Hunter has come to stop has set his plan into motion by revealing that the truce between the Green and Yellow Lanterns will lead to Fear being eradicated and the Yellow Lanterns being merged into the Green.

While Rip struggles to convince the Corps, Sarko has sent an army of Prism Beasts to attack the Green Lanterns before they can interfere.

RATING: 4/5
The first part of this story was swamped in set up, forcing the union of Fear and Will upon us and at the time it felt overlong but now Rip and Sarko are here and their respective missions in time have been revealed the story has taken an upturn and I hope it continues. It does bring into question who is right, as whoever wins a Corps will vanish forever. It also brings to the fore the different character aspects of the Lanterns, its nice that they each play to their strengths and admit their weaknesses.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5
Heart of a Bastich: Part 2
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Marcelo Maiolo
Variant Cover: Doug Mahnke & Wil Quintana

The Justice League of America meets a press conference and introduces them to their new base, Mount Justice. Vixen and Black Canary skillfully rebut questions on Lobo and Killer Frost.

Later, the villain Aegeus armed with mystical weaponry has taken over the Mayor’s mansion with an army of minions.

Aegeus has been dealing arms and the League aim to take him out. Batman sends in Lobo while the rest of the team fight on the streets.

Lobo does his job and rendezvous with the team after but reveals The Atom stayed behind to fight Aegeus himself. Lobo reveals the weapons have caused damage his healing factor is struggling to cure and worse still the villain has far more in his arsenal than Batman had thought.

With winged beasts flying down on the innocents the Ray uses his power to armour everyone ready for a fight to the death.

RATING 4/5
MacDonald’s art brings a unique feel to the book and its a fun energetic style that is quite memorable. The Batman and Lobo scenes are just superb, the panels are very emotionally charged and the writing has really taken another twist offering up a really cohesive team even though there is still the beginners bickering to contend with as they learn to trust each other.

The only fault with the book is Aegeus, he seems like a big threat but we know very little about him. It would have been nice to see a more familiar villain tackled but I’m enjoying the book so far.

WONDER WOMAN #21
The Truth: Part 4
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Liam Sharp
Cover: Liam Sharp & Laura Martin
Variant: Jenny Frison

Wonder Woman, injured, still manages to take down Team Poison and with Steve in tow they head to intercept Veronica Cale.

With the aid of Cheetah, Veronica has arrived at the giant dead tree that was once thought to be the entrance to Themyscira.

Cale’s hounds try to get through the doorway while Wonder Woman arrives and attempts to stop Veronica and Cheetah.

The fight is visceral with but Barbara Ann and Diana struggling to hold each other back.

However, while they are distracted, Izzy races through to save herself closely followed by a distraught Veronica and Diana.

Veronica finally comes clean as to her motives,, and as her truth is revealed they enter a deep cavern.  Inside they find Izzy, cured of her ailments and a man in shackles who reveals to Diana his true identity.

RATING 5/5
Hang on for a moment while I catch my breath. Cale’s plot reaches fruition and though she doesn’t get to Themyscira, the curse on Izzy is broken.  The ends still don’t justify the means, she destroyed so many people along the way including Wonder Woman.

We have some spectacular artwork showcasing Diana in all her glory and she definitely goes up against to fight the Poison soliders and that epic hack and slash Cheetah fight. The truce with Cale was not unexpected from Diana, but I certainly wasn’t expecting that finale!  That cover is stunning, I love everything about it, if you have the book digitally, zoom in – its beautiful.

BLUE BEETLE #8
Transformations!
Writers: Keith Giffen & J.M.DeMatteis
Artist: Scott Kolins
Cover: Scott Kolins

After taking on the Mordecai and Arion of Atlantis, Blue Beetle is left powerless after Arion steals his Scarab. With the ancient artifact Arion uses it to become an even more powerful foe and his bug minions arrive on earth. When Jaime tries to intervene during a bug attack he is shocked that his friend Kev is OMAC and doubly so that his mother is a metahuman monster too.

Jaime asks OMAC for help and is shocked when Kev’s persona selfishly leaves the scene. Refusing to give up, Jaime races back to Kord industries and asks for Ted’s help to try and recover the scarab. With options at a minimum Ted offers the only thing he can to help. His old Blue Beetle suit and Jaime gets ready to become a real hero.

RATING 4/5
Mutant mothers, monster bugs, OMAC and the classic suit! We’re moving forwards with a new direction for the book and they’ve definitely pulled out all the stops!

I really like that now Arion has been revealed the book is not scared to mix things up and move on. The nods to Kirby in Kolins art are noticeable in the OMAC pages and that final reveal of Jaime in Ted’s suit was brilliant!

BATGIRL #10
Son of Penguin: Part 4
Writer: Hope Larson
Artist: Chris Wildgoose
Inker: John Lam
Cover: Chris Wildgoose
Variant: Francis Manapul

Batgirl confronts Penguin over his accusations and he wastes no time telling Barbara that he believes it to be Ethan who is out to destroy him.

Heading to the Iceberg Lounge, Batgirl meets with Commissioner Gordon and they run through several theories, until a worried Ethan texts Barbara but by the time she arrives to meet him he has decided to dump her.

Nightwing texts Barbara that social media is abuzz with news that Batgirl has teamed up with the Penguin.

Later, when an automated car crashes into a lamppost inches away from a cafe Barbara was in she realises Ethan is the mastermind. This discovery comes too late as Penguin and son are reunited, but the reunion is anything but pleasant.

RATING: 4/5
The ‘is he, isn’t he’ mystery of whether Ethan is an bad guy is finally answered, it wasn’t really a surprise and I’m actually happier that he and Barbara are no longer an item. What is his plan? If it is really just to quell his Daddy issues that would be disappointing as I think with his skills he could be a much bigger threat. The art was creative, individual and definitely stood out, I think a few big splash pages would have enhanced things, otherwise a solid chapter and enjoyable read.

BATMAN BEYOND #7
Rise of The Demon: Part 2
Writer: Jan Jurgens
Artist: Bernard Chang
Cover: Bernard Chang & Marcelo Maiolo
Variant: Martin Ansin

Bruce and Max share a heart to heart but are interrupted my Matt who tells them the Bat Signal has been switched on but Terry isn’t responding to it.

With Barbara and Curare fighting for their lives Bruce tries to call Terry again but Terry deliberately ignores the call, undeterred a call comes through to Dana instead and Terry realises his selfish error.

In the experimental suit Terry races to help and he does with ease, a little too much ease and Bruce realises the suit is faulty but determined to make up for his mistakes Terry wants to see the mission through.

Curare presents a video tablet and it reveals a horrific twist, one of Batman’s deadliest foes is still alive and is out for blood!

RATING 5/5
I’m not used to Terry being so childish.  It added to the drama and escalated the danger while working as a solid introduction for the new suit to be used. There is a little bit of the ‘Venom Symbiote’ there as it begins to take over his actions, add to that the reason the League of Assassins is hunting Curare and we have a winner. This issue was head and shoulders over the last in all except the artwork – Curare’s fight scenes still beat Terry’s violent outburst!

TEEN TITANS GO #21
Couch Surfers
Writer: Ivan Cohen
Art: Eric Owen
Cover: Dario Brizuela & Franco Riesco
Titans Tower is condemned and with the Teen Titans homeless till repairs are made the kids try out all manner of hideouts to find the best fit. From the Fortress to Hell they try them all… until they are arrested!

“GOBLIN CATCH ‘EM ALL!”

When a slime monster attacks Jump City, Beast Boy races to the rescue but when he is slimed Garth is reduced to strip off and suddenly becomes the focus of Jump City’s attention as they think he is a character to capture from the game ‘Goblin Grab’. The teen is quickly captured by the villain Control Freak and held captive – until the Teen Titans go the the rescue!

RATING 3/5
First I have to highlight the artwork, it captures the heart of the show brilliantly. I know there are just as many haters of the show as there are lovers but I found Cohen encapsulated everything good about the show and made it very entertaining. There were enough moments in the book to entertain me as an adult.

HELLBLAZER #9
The Smokeless Fire: Part 3
Writer: Simon Oliver
Artist: Davide Fabbri
Inkers: Jose Marzan Jr. & Karl Kesel
Cover: Declan Shalvey & Jordie Bellaire
Variant: Yasmine Putri

When the flying shoe leads them only so far, Constantine and Mercury are dumped in the middle of nowhere by Misabel. Did she lead them away from the journal on purpose?

The race is on the find the book and discover its secrets from the boy with the missing shoe before it is too late.

Elsewhere, Marid and Clarice are escalating their plot to aid the Djinn’s rise to power in London, as they edge ever closer to victory, an angel is sacrificed and its wings clipped in a horrific act to aid their cause.

RATING: 4/5
The Djinn plot takes centre stage as the grand plan begins to take formation. Thus far it has been a lot of talking, usually in shadows, parties with the well to do of the dark arts and not much else. As Constantine’s main plot to hunt for the journal hits a wall its nice to see the villains take centre stage albeit in a very violent way. The art is a lot crisper, especially as those abstract cust scenes have been given a miss this issue.

SCOOBY-DOO TEAM UP #25
Ghosts Are Not Healthy For Dogs and Other Living Things
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artist: Dario Brizuela
Cover: Dario Brizuela & Franco Riesco

The Mystery Inc gang arrive in Karma Corners where its groovy hipster residents are being haunted by their older uncool parents.

At that same time they bump into Green Lantern and Green Arrow, are the heroes in ton chasing a super villain?

No they are on a road trip!

When the ghosts interrupt the heroes spring into action but find their condescending foes make them doubt their super skills.

Fred inspires Hal with his power battery and with renewed confidence The heroes capture the ghosts and reveal them to really be the grandchildren of the the ghosts they were impersonating.

The heroes then suddenly turn on one another and the gang realise there is more to the mystery than they thought. For some reason Ollie and Hal are getting angrier and angrier,

When the true villain appears, it is the Mystery Inc gang that have to be the heroes and save the day!

RATING 5/5
Fisch & Brizuela deliver a truly fantastic book.  Capturing the feel of the series and even throwing in a twist to that unmasking formula, that I honestly didn’t see coming.

Were Hal and Ollie needed for the story? Definitely not for the first half but as the mystery progressed and Psycho Pirate appears the book jumps in feet first into the super hero adventure, two stories in one and brilliantly woven together.  I haven’t read a book by this team in a long time and I could kick myself for not following them as this was brilliant.

When a tunnel collapses on ordinary family man Jung-soo (Ha Jung-woo), his cell phone becomes his only link to the outside world. In the face of media frenzy and government officials jumping on a chance for good publicity, an emergency response team mobilizes to rescue Jung-soo with the nation s support. But as days go by and nerves stretch thin, Jung-soo must struggle for his life in the suffocating debris alone.

Acclaimed director Kim Seong-hun weaves another intricate thriller in this story of unthinkable disaster and one man’s fight for survival in claustrophobic darkness.

And we’re giving away three copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “THE TUNNEL” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

Tunnel star Ha Jung-woo recently appeared in this Oscar nominated film?

Please include your name and address (U.S. Residents only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on May 7th, 2017.

It’s time to go back in time yet again with a trilogy of new, collected Back to the Future comic book stories. (Just don’t confuse it with the Harvey Comics’ books published in the early 1990s. *shudder*)

As BTTF writer Bob Gale explains in the first book’s forward (and then echoes in the subsequent two), “…everything is canon, at least temporarily” and the stories “[riff] on the theme of BTTF, but the original material will always remain as it is.”

In a radioactive nutshell, that means you’ll see a lot of familiar characters doing very familiar things, often relating to key moments in the BTTF movies without permanently changing anything.

The first book (Volume 1: Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines) has a dozen or so stories, each interwoven with the original films and with each other.

The next two books each contain a single, larger story. Continuum Conundrum presents an alternate present – our past, er, Marty’s 1980s present…you get the picture – and a lot of mucking around key movie moments with new complications. In Citizen Brown, things get a bit more weird as Emmett is more a Dic(tator) than the Doc we know.

Back to the Future Volume 1: Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines
Written by Bob Gale, John Barber, Erik Burnham
Art by Brent Schnoonover, Dan Schoening

Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines collects the first five issues of the Back to the Future comic series published by IDW in 2015.

Most of the stories in these collected books have Emmett “Doc” Brown working on the time traveling train we saw at the end of the third film.

Between welds he recounts to wife Clara and their two sons (Jules and Verne) adventures of his past, which is pretty much always their future. It’s a tried-and-true plot device that is pretty well played out to the point where the writers even poke a bit of fun at it.

The first story, “When Marty Met Emmett” as the title professes, set in 1982. Needles comes to McFly to take a tube for his guitar.

It falls, breaks and now Marty needs to get a new one or get his ass kicked.  Turns out they’ve all been sold to E.L.B Enterprises, i.e. Emmett “Doc” Brown.

Upon entering his house, Marty trips a Rube Goldberg Machine (or Heath Robinson Contraption, for you Brits) style trap. Doc looks a little older for the wear and Marty younger, but the essence is still there.

That’s followed by “Looking For a Few Good Scientists,” a super short story set in 1943 where Doc is teaching at the California Institute of Technology. He’s recruited by a pair of government agents for a rather (now) well-known secret government project.

Then we jump to 1962 in “The Doc Who Never Was” (after a brief prelude in the wild west, of course), for a story about a future that Doc forgot (how is he telling the story, you might ask? You’ll get there…). Marty’s speaking Russian and everything is completely out of sorts. Not only does Doc find an ad for the car he’ll soon own, but you’ll also see Goldie Wilson starting his political career.

The book continues like that, often jumping back and forth in time to reveal bits between the scenes and help fill in in the plot holes from the films. How is it that Marty worked with doc for years yet he never saw the DeLorean or finished Flux Capacitor? You’ll find out in “Peer Pressure.” How did old Biff bust the DeLorean? Read the oh-so-subtly named “Jurassic Biff.”

One of the more fun stories is “Emmett Brown Visits the Future,” where Doc travels from 1985 to 2015 for the first time. Appropriately, he ends up at a 1980s retro celebration where he quickly wins. His McGuffin here is to get enough money to pay for the hovercraft conversion and a Mr. Fusion. It involves a quick trip back to 1938 to collect a very valuable item…

The biggest departure is “In Search of Calvin Marty Klein” where George McFly, now a bit of an arrogant jerk, is having love troubles with his soon-to-be-wife, Lorraine. It’s a Cyrano de Bergerac style story with a “shocking” twist.

Recapping the Past

After the stories are about 30 pages of alternate covers and pinup style pages by various artists including Drew Rausch, J. Scott Campbell, Agustin Paoilla, and even Fernandez Ruiz (á la Archie). You also get the see the full, two-page covers by Dan Schoening  expanded (which is especially nice if viewing in a digital format). It feels like a bit much – they could have squeezed in another book – but each page looks great.

The stories swap writers and artists, creating a bit of visual discontinuity that may be intentional but can be a bit jarring when reading all the stories back-to-back. The solid fills, thick lines and sparse backgrounds of the first story (art by Brent Schoonover), for example, are nearly polar opposite to the fine lines, delicate shading and detailed environs of the next Dan Schoening).

Although it’s a bit more schizophrenic than I’d prefer, this is still a fun collection. All the stories are a bit goofy – which pretty much summarizes the entire franchise – but the intertwined aspect is fun. It’s also a quite meta when you get down to it: Comics have been retelling origin stories, redefining characters and re-birthing every title possible to regain readers. In this case, it’s Marty and Doc mucking about in time. They can pretty much do what they want and eyes rightfully roll at the cheesiness of the stories, not the plot device.

Also Look For…

Back to the Future Volume 2: Continuum Conundrum
Written by Bob Gale, John Barber
Art by Athila Fabbio, Toni Doya, Marcelo Ferreira

Continuum Concerns is the second book of collected BTTF stories, putting issues six through eleven under the same cover. Here we also see essentially the same art team used throughout (with John Barber as writer), so the style remains a lot more consistent throughout.

The story is what we’ll know as a mixed up version of Marty’s present (in the 1980s, so our past). Doc has amnesia, the cops are chasing them, Clara sent Marty a letter from the way past and Needles doesn’t wanna cause much trouble.

They eventually run into a familiar vehicle – but it’s only familiar if you read the first collection (above) – and Needles finally proves he’s always the prickly jerk. That old radiation suit comes in especially handy as the Doc has a new method for getting up to time traveling speed, this time involving a parachute as well.

They end up in the future where Griff is truly buff and strangely law abiding, er, enforcing, and have a far more exciting confrontation than was ever in the movies. It’s much more cohesive and a faster read even if it has more story pages and less end-of-the-book art.

Back To the Future Volume 3: Citizen Brown
Written by Bob Gale, Erik Burnham
Art by Alan Robinson

This next book predates the previous two in a rather unusually way: The story is based on the 2010 BTTF video game by Telltale although the books were released in 2016.

This story has a consistent team and is set in the same time as the previous story (1986), although it’s not a crossover.

Marty heads back to 1931 after seeing a newspaper in the library where the death of “Carl Sagan” – actually Doc Brown – is front page news. It’s yet another paradox that our time travelling teammates need to fix. But only after they get Doc outta jail.

Marty literally bumps into a very, very young Emmett Brown here, who has an invention that is vital to his own future-present escape. We also meet accountant Arthur McFly who, naturally, is mixed up with prohibition era mobsters.

There’s quite a bit of quick bopping between future, ’80s present and the past, and evil Edna Strickland and, finally, an alternate reality Emmett Brown.

I’m not as impressed with this story as much as Conundrum, although the dystopian word is an interesting darker look into the franchise.

All three Back To The Future Collections are available now from IDW Publishing

Guest post by Aaron Cynic

The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, one of the Midwest’s largest fandom expos, breezed through the windy city last weekend. The three-day extravaganza—arguably Chicago’s largest celebration of fandom of almost all types of genres was so jam-packed with panels, workshops, discussions, celebrity sightings, cosplay, and thousands of artists showing off a multitude of wares that it would’ve taken access to a TARDIS to see and experience everything.

We spent Saturday and Sunday trying to capture as many fantastic moments as we could traversing Chicago’s McCormick Place, which brought tens of thousands of fans of nearly every genre together with hundreds of creators, artists, actors and cosplayers from all over the world.

One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was the incredible amount of cosplay happening throughout the whole of the convention, particularly ahead of the international world cosplay championship on Saturday. The concourse transformed into an impromptu runway giving guests an opportunity to pose for photos and mingle with other fans and friends.

 

Aaron Cynic is an independent journalist and photographer based in Chicago. His interest in the tapestry of politics and media began in the 90’s when he stumbled into a table of zines at a punk show at the Fireside Bowl. Since then, he’s written and photographed for numerous publications, zines, books and websites. He’s a regular contributor to Chicagoist, and his work has also appeared in Progress Illinois, Alternet, Truthout, In These Times, The Daily Line, The Huffington Post, Shareable and more.

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown! It’s been a good couple of weeks for DC Comics. This week that trend continues!

Plus, check out a bunch of reviews of some fantastic lesser-known titles.

Doom Patrol #6
Written by Gerard Way
Illustrated by Nick Derington
Published by DC Comics

This is the flagship book in the Young Animal line. It had been plagued with a few delays. I don’t care. If the book is this good, I don’t mind waiting. And the book is that good.

Let’s start with the cover by Nick Derington. It’s beautiful. After that, you open the book up. The story inside is amazing.

This is the issue that the entire Doom Patrol come together finally as a team. It’s exciting. They band together to take out the Vectra and it’s crazy for sure. It’s also a well crafted tale.

Gerard Way is the only person Besides Grant Morrison I want to write the Doom Patrol. Believe me, that’s saying something. He and Derington have created a great first storyline.

I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

RATING: A

Detective Comics #955
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Marcio Takara
Published by DC Comics

Man, this League of Shadows storyline going on in Detective Comics currently is brutal to watch.

That’s a bad thing for the characters but a great thing for the readers! The storyline is action packed, exciting, and just fantastic.

Batman’s gang is beaten down. Cassandra Cain must take on the League of Shadows to help Batman and friends out of this jam they’re in.

And it’s crazy good. The fight scene in this issue may end up ranking as one of the year’s best.

Tynion writes another fine issue with some excellent art. Pick up this storyline. Detective Comics is the place to be!

RATING: A-

Kamandi Challenge #4
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Carlos D’Anda
Published by DC Comics

This has been an exciting series. Each issue has a new creative team picking up where the last team took us…no matter how crazy. This issue continues the fun!

Kamandi’s journey has led him to the Western Wall. It’s been quite an adventure too leading up to now.

But is Kamandi ready to face what lies on the other side of the wall?

Find out in this issue!

The writing is good and the art by D’Anda is especially good.

I’m enjoying this series very much. It’s like a jam project and everyone is having a good time on it. It translates well onto the page.

RATING: B+

Suicide Squad #16
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Tony S. Daniel
Published by DC Comics

Last month’s issue ended on a high note, which leads right into this current one. This is also very good and doesn’t really skip a beat.

Amanda Waller needs something from Lex Luthor.

You never really want to need anything from Lex Luthor. A battle of words and wits follows.

Meanwhile, her Suicide Squad is in Lexcorp, trying to crack open a heavily guarded safe.

Williams keeps the writing fast and breezy in this issue. The art by Daniel is great as well. It’s even inspired.

This is a well paced, well done issue.

RATING: B+

Mother Panic #6
Written by Jody Houser
Illustrated by Shawn Crystal
Published by DC Comics

I have been enjoying this strange little book from DC. It’s nutty and weird and it feels like it shouldn’t exist.

Yet, it does and we are the better for it.

Mother Panic’s alliance with the mysterious Pretty falls apart in this issue. It’s a pretty harsh falling out too. It’s both physical and psychological.You have to read it as it’s like no other book in the marketplace.

Jody Houser has made quite a name for herself and it’s easy to see why. Here, she writes another cool script. The art is pretty decent too now that I’m used to it.

Give this book a read. It’s delightfully strange and highly original.

RATING: B+

The Flash #21
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Howard Porter
Published by DC Comics

Man, the cover by Jason Fabok is pretty fantastic on this issue. It sets the mood perfectly and it’s a thing of beauty. The issue itself is pretty damn fantastic too. “The Button” storyline rages on and it’s really entertainingly

This is part two of the storyline bringing us closer to the Watchmen Rebirth crossover.

The Flash and Batman try to solve the mystery of where the button in the Batcave came from. This leads to a bunch of crazy stuff…including the cosmic treadmill! The “surprise” at the end isn’t really that amazing but hey you can’t ask for everything.

The writing by Williamson is great and the art by Howard Porter is stunning. Thank god he’s off that Scooby-Doo book and is drawing this.

My recommendation? This book is excellent.

No, wait. How about this? You NEED THIS BOOK.

RATING: A

Supergirl: Being Super #3
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Illustrated by Joelle Jones
Published by DC Comics

This miniseries is quite a gem. Tamaki is one of our best writers. She writes books that are full of emotion and invention. It’s just a classic in the making and you would be foolish not to pick this up.

Kara’s memories of being on another planet are starting to resurface. She starts to ask herself: is she really alone here on Earth?

Secrets start becoming known. Betrayals are around the corner. It’s all very cool and exciting to read.

Jones is one of the best artists to ever work on Supergirl.

The work shines with passion on each page. Pick up this series. It’s quite awesome.

RATING: A

Batman/The Shadow #1
Written by Scott Snyder and Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Riley Rossmo
Published by DC Comics/Dynamite Entertainmet

Holy wow! This is bananas! Two of my favorite characters in one book! It’s written by Steve Orlando and Scott Snyder! It’s drawn by Riley Rossmo? Did Hannukah come early this year?

Maybe so. This book is utterly awesome. What’s it about?

Well, the Shadow meets Batman! What more do you need to know? It’s full of crazy energy and crazy adventures from the first page until the last of this debut issue.

Part of that craziness comes from Rossmo. His layout work and page design is second to none.

Check out that first splash page with The Shadow. I want that on a t-shirt.

My reviews?

Holy wow. Pick this one up kids. This is amazing. Well done.

RATING: A

Clean Room #18
Written by Gail Simone
Illustrated by Walter Geovani
Published by DC Comics

I have a confession to make: I started reading this series about two issues back cold. It’s awesome.

So this issue is the ending of “Season One.” I got about two pages in and I loved it.

And I stopped.

Why did I stop?

It’s super damn good. So I went on Amazon and I ordered the first two trades to catch up. I didn’t finish this issue yet but I will. It’s that damn good I want to read it all in its entirety.

Gail Simone is awesome. The art is awesome.

Now I’m going to read from the beginning. I’ll let you know how I like it.

RATING: A (for making me go on Amazon!)

Teen Titans #7
Written by Benjamin Percy
Illustrated by Khoi Pham
Published by DC Comics

I have to tell you: I’m bored with this series. It’s truly dull.

Read the other Titans book. It’s definitely superior.

This is the “The Rise of Aqualad” finale. It’s not an important read. Read it at your leisure.

I got bored on the full page and looked at the rest unenthusiastically.

The art is decent enough.

The rest?

The characters are semi-annoying, the storyline is generic and I had trouble keeping awake.

Oh well.

RATING: C-

Unfollow #18
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Michael Dowling
Published by DC Comics

Michael Dowling is a fantastic artist. I look at his art and know that one day he will be a superstar.

This book is pretty solid overall.

Like Clean Room I may have to start this series from the beginning.

I’m intrigued. I picked up the last three issues and I have quite enjoyed it.

Rob Williams does a great job writing this book.

Again, the art is very good.

I may go onto Amazon later and order…if I get another good deal.

RATING: B

Jam in the Band GN
Written and Illustrated by Robin Enrico
Published by Alternative Comics

I had never heard of this comic before I read it. There is something nice and nostalgic about the whole project. It’s really cute and I had a nice time reading it. It won’t change the world but not everything has to.

This book focuses on the rise and fall of that fictional rock band called Pitch Girl. What’s cool about it, is that the narrative doesn’t follow a traditional story path.

The whole comic is told through a montage of drama, interviews, hand held camera footage, diary pages, news reports, music videos, web chats, and punk rock flyers.

Enrico makes the whole thing interesting and smart. I did get a little bored with some of the cutesy aspects of the piece but the whole thing works pretty well. If you’re looking for something different, pick up this book. It’s pretty damn good.

RATING: B+

Night Owl Society #1
Written by James Venhaus
Illustrated by Pius Bak
Published by IDW Publishing

This is one of those strange, off the cuff books that really charmed me. I loved it. I thought when I first saw the title I wouldn’t but this book is a damn joy.

David is a kid who has no friends at his high school except one person.

When that person is killed by a mob boss, it sends David reeling. David gathers a group of his misfit friends from outside the school, and decided to take the mob down.

This premise is fairly wacky but writer Venhaus handles it well. The art isn’t as strong as one would hope, but it’s passable.

All in all a decent book. Read it for the story. It does grab you more than the art.

RATING: B+

There’s Nothing There #1
Written by Patrick Kindlon
Illustrated by Maria Llovet
Published by Black Mask Studios

Black Mask Studios had been making quite a name for itself recently with its comics line.

That trend continues here. This book is well written and it’s really nice to look at.

A well off girl named Reno Selleti goes to a strange party mostly to laugh at the people attending the party. What ends up happening is that she discovers that she’s at an occult ritual. The ritual causes her to see strange things. Then it gets completely crazy.

This is edge of your seat storytelling there. The writing is ballsy and the art is great.

Pick this up as it’s one of the better books of from an already cool line of books. Recommended.

RATING: A

Shirtless Bear Fighter! #1-3
Written by Jody Leheup and Sebastian Girner
Illustrated by Nil Vandrell Pallach
Published by Image Comics

Man, what a title on this book. I love it. It just…says it all. I laughed out loud when I received this book.

It didn’t disappoint either. It’s freaking awesome.

The people of Major City have a major threat of bears!

Bears are threatening the damn city.

They call upon Shirtless to take them down. So our hero has to go out and do what he does best.

What does he do best?

Punch some bears in the face.

This book is totally excellent. You have to pick it up to believe it. I wish more comics were like this.

RATING: A

Superheroes Decoded is a two-part documentary about the history of superheroes and comic books. Piggybacking on Brad Meltzer’s Decoded series title, this is in-depth look in to how American comic books and heroes have developed into a major money-maker for studios but also a reflection of over seventy-five years of pop culture.

Capped on each end by the creation of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and the invention of a Pakistani Ms. Marvel in 2013 the just under three hour documentary has a lot packed in.

Interviews with creators Stan Lee, Iron Man director Jon Favreau, creators Brad Meltzer, Joe Quesada, Mark Waid, Dan DiDio, Nicola Scott, G. Willow Wilson, Sana Amanat are poised against non-comics people and celebrities George R.R. Martin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Clark Gregg, Anthony Mackie, T.J. Miller and many more to paint a historical perspective on comics and heroes.

Focusing on obvious choices like Wonder Woman and Black Panther to tackle race and gender equality, the doc also talks about the subconscious undertones of the X-Men and Batman and Robin to serve as object lessons not only about race but about gender.

Fans of behind the scenes comic book documentaries and digital extras will be largely familiar with what you see here, but that doesn’t make for a bad time. On the contrary, there is not a limit to how many times I see Jack “King” Kirby get his due on the small screen. I can, and have, seen the retelling of Superman, Captain America and Batman’s origin story from Finger to Simon the maximum amount of times possible. Instead of hunting around on YouTube for these interviews and retellings, History has put this all together in a three hour chunk. This is easily digestible and good crib notes for the history of comics buffs and novices alike.

The movie is cut up with motion comic panels but it also dives deep into characters like The Thing by revealing their onscreen identities from major studio movies for better or for worse. In the case of Ben Grimm, that means both the 2005 and 2015 versions. Which one, dear reader, do you think Jack would have thought looked better?

In the modern age of comics, read: the past ten years or so, and with the movie’s success, there was also some time with T.J. Miller of Deadpool fame but also with one of his best writers, Gail Simone. It’s never too meta to talk about Deadpool now that he’s famous, but like so many things, he is the product of the time of his creation, the comic boom nineties, followed by a burst bubble.

Further back, we learn about Wonder Woman and her creation by William Moulton Marston but without the usual scandal involved in the telling of that story. But also, more importantly we get the story of how Gloria Steinem brought Diana Prince back from being a weaker, fashionista version of the character to the stronger, 2017 warrior icon that Gal Gadot is playing in the character’s first feature film out later this year.

There really is a lot to cover and is covered with this documentary. You might be tempted to record this and binge but if you watch on air dates, your attention may not fizzle toward the end.

The Good: this is very comprehensive, a fair view about the history of comics and superheroes with surprising experts and writers chiming in.

The Bad: Runtime. This ran a bit long for me, and I am a rabid fan soaking up this kind of knowledge like the Absorbing Man. Break it up over the two natural viewing two sessions or you might start feel like Chris Evans fighting a bully in a Depression-era alley.

“I can do this all day”!

Superheroes Decoded premieres Sunday, April 30
and Monday, May 1 at 9PM ET/PT.

Comedy is subjective… but damn it sometimes shit just isn’t funny.

We shall look at some of the most unfunny sitcom pilots ever… shitcoms if you will.

Patton Oswalt has always been an open geek and with him now on the illustrious Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return he is back in the public eye.

In 2000 he was less visible than he is now yet still that open geek so he wanted to show his geek pride by putting it out there for all to see… until it got leaked to the internet no one got to see Super Nerds though. It might have been better left unseen.

Two nerds (Super Nerds if you will) run a local comic book store and they rattle off geek cliches all the while being elitist jackasses. Nothing funny happens. Eventually a girl enters the picture and… then nothing funny continues to happen. The girl and a Captain Kirk bookend come between them. Nothing funny is still happening. Finally they make up. Still not a GODDAMN FUNNY THING HAPPENS!!!!

Seriously… this thing is so devoid of laughs I swear it was a “Springtime for Hitler” scam. Like Oswalt was trying to get out of a contact or something. Someone of his talent level simply can not be this unfunny.

The “jokes” consist of playing up every stereotype of guys that work in a comic store to such a ludicrous degree that it becomes cartoonish… all while adding nothing to them as “characters”. People call The Big Bang Theory “blackface for nerds” (and it is)… well this is a full minstrel show. Naming nerd things (comic book characters, scifi characters) are the joke. Nothing else… AQUAMAN! Pause for “laugh”. That kind of thing.

Oswalt was joined by comedian Brian Posehn and pseudo-comedian Sarah Silverman for the most painful 22 minutes of my life. I know I said something similar about the Gregg Araki This Is How The World Ends but that has now been surpassed. Super Nerds is almost the dark matter version of what you think funny should be. Even if you were attempting to somehow intentionally create a visual representation of anti-humor you could not have been this vacuous and lacking in humor. Even if you were attempting to skewer the stereotype of the nerd by embracing those very stereotypes you could not have miscalculated more.

I felt shame watching this… genuine shame for those involved. I wager this pilot is like those awkward photos of you naked as a kid that your mom pulls out to show your girlfriend. I wager that this being made for Comedy Central it was not picked up for having absolutely no comedy in it.

Life on Mars. What an overused title. There have been what (?) 3 or 4 TV shows now called Life on Mars? Can’t we come up with something more original?

Anyway, this Life on Mars is a 1994 unaired pilot by Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk. Made for HBO and running a brisk 15 minutes and change… it’s still a chore to get through.

Pretentious (although I think that was part of the “joke”) and not the least bit funny Life on Mars is just a quick one and done that earned it’s place in obscurity.

Odenkirk plays a comedy writer named Bob, Janeane Garofalo plays an actress named Janeane… wait a minute… are they playing themselves or cyphers of themselves? Well anyway Bob and Janeane hang out at a stuffy coffee shop called Mars where they bitch and whine and act all eccentric.

That’s it.

At one point Xander Berkley appears as a burned out drug poet who tries to rape Bob but other than that NOTHING HAPPENS. I think they were under the impression that if there was witty wordplay (there was not) that alone could carry this series but they were wrong. HBO passed and the next year Odenkirk made Mr. Show for them so maybe it was best to not have lived on Mars.

We all loved the 1984 sleeper hit Revenge of the Nerds (lets ignore the fact that our heroes commit numerous acts of sexual assault). In 1991 Fox thought it could make a sitcom based on the movie. Oh god… this is really damn awful.

Big Bang Theory is more subtle than this… Super Nerds is more subtle that this…

The pilot here is mainly a VERY fast remake of the first movie with no humor, no style and most of all no point. Why remake the movie if you only are going to make it worse?

The cast is filled with pale imitations of the movie cast who all essentially just play inferior versions of the better actors… with the exception of Robbie Rist (Dr. Zee from Galactica 1980) as Booger. For some reason he is now an anarchist hippy with long hair.

The Alpha/Betas are damn near caricatures of Stan and Ogre in 1984. Also this being made for Fox Television it loses ALL of the risque and hard R humor the movie had. Hell they even dance around Booger being a pothead.

If you are a fan of the movie then this is a complete waste. If you are not a fan of the movie this is meaningless. So why does this even exist then?

After not picking this up in 1991 Fox decided instead to bring (most) of the original movie’s cast back for 2 TV movies starting in 1992. As bad as they were they could be watched… this had to be endured.

Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment today announced that executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter are teaming up for the all-new live-action drama series “Titans,” which will debut in 2018. Additionally, Warner Bros. Animation’s “Young Justice: Outsiders,” the highly anticipated third season of the popular “Young Justice” series, is also ramping up for its first mission next year.

Both fan-driven series are in early stages of production and will air exclusively on a DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital service in 2018. Operated by Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group, the new digital service will deliver an immersive experience designed just for DC fans.

“Titans” follows a group of young soon-to-be Super Heroes recruited from every corner of the DC Universe. In this action-packed series, Dick Grayson emerges from the shadows to become the leader of a fearless band of new heroes, including Starfire, Raven and many others. “Titans” is a dramatic, live-action adventure series that will explore and celebrate one of the most popular comic book teams ever.

“Titans” will be written by Akiva Goldsman (“Star Trek: Discovery,” “Underground”), Geoff Johns (President & Chief Creative Officer, DC Entertainment; “The Flash,” “Arrow”) and Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl”). Goldsman, Johns, Berlanti and Sarah Schechter (“Arrow,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl”) are executive producers of the series from Weed Road Pictures and Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

In “Young Justice: Outsiders,” the teenage Super Heroes of the DC Universe come of age in an animated world of super-powers, Super-Villains and super secrets. In the highly anticipated new season, the team faces its greatest challenge yet as it takes on meta-human trafficking and the terrifying threat it creates for a society caught in the crossfire of a genetic arms race spanning the globe and the galaxy. Equally praised by critics and viewers for its impressive visuals and rich storytelling, “Young Justice” reached more than 25 million unique viewers in each of its two seasons on Cartoon Network. This passionate fan support set the stage for the new third season.

Sam Register (“Teen Titans Go!,” “Justice League Action”) is executive producer of “Young Justice.” Brandon Vietti (“Batman: Under the Red Hood,” “Superman Doomsday”) and Greg Weisman (“Star Wars Rebels,” “Gargoyles”) are producers of the series, produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Emmy Award winner Phil Bourassa (“Young Justice,” “Justice League Dark,” “Teen Titans: The Judas Contract”) serves as the series’ art director.

For updates on these exciting new series and the upcoming DC digital service, visit www.DCFanUpdates.com.

Produced by Kevin Feige
Written and Directed by James Gunn
Based on Guardians of the Galaxy
by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista,
Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker,
Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki,
Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone,
and Kurt Russell

The Guardians are back in a sequel that takes them to some dark places in a way that is meant to invoke The Empire Strikes Back. (Wow, are there Daddy issues!)

It’s a fun ride that’s definitely worth your $10.

There’s a brand-new killer ’70s flashback soundtrack, ’80s stars galore, over-the-top, in-your-face set pieces and plenty (maybe a bit too much?) of Baby Groot.

I wasn’t in love with the first film, which was ridiculously over-hyped as the greatest Marvel movie ever made. It was far too in love with its own goofiness and Chris Pratt’s new pumped-up physique. And the less said about the dance-off finale, the better.

While the Guardians are a loving homage to all things Star Wars, the hard truth is that Star Lord will never be Han Solo and Pratt is certainly no Harrison Ford. He’s still more of a douchey frat boy than a witty space maverick here, but the story — in which he finally meets his dad — gives him some more serious notes to play.

About that Dad: Kurt Russell is fantastic as Ego, the mysterious father Peter Quill never knew. He shows up to save the Guardians from the Sovereigns, whom they’ve foolishly crossed, and reveals he’s been looking for Peter all this time. It seems too be good to be true, and at first Peter is suspicious that this cool dude is really his father. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) encourages him to follow Ego back to his home planet and get to know him. She and Drax (Dave Bautista) tag along, leading to some funny scenes between Drax and Ego’s empath aide Mantis (Pom Klementieff).

That leaves Rocket and Groot to repair their damaged ship while watching captive Nebula, who’s still plotting to kill sister Gamora.

Meanwhile, Yondu (Michael Rooker) is out to capture the Guardians and collect the million-dollar bounty put out by the Sovereigns — that is, if he can keep down a mutiny of his crew.

Gamora, who was so stiff in the first film, here loosens up and admits she might have “an unspoken thing” with Peter. She also deals with her toxic relationship with her sister. (There, just passed the Bechdel Test!)

We also see some tenderness in Yondu and Rocket, who end up bonding. Yondu, who’s still smarting from being kicked out of the Ravagers (led by Sylvester Stallone), really becomes the film’s VIP.

And (especially after his turn in brother James’s The Belko Experiment), I am loving the very funny Sean Gunn as Yondu’s second-in command.

Another newcomer, Elizabeth Debecki (The Night Manager) is great as the Sovereign’s regal, golden ruler Ayesha.

The climactic showdown is lengthier than it needs to be (and involves some truly funky CGI), but if you’re not tearing up by the end, you are far more cynical than I am.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Sunday, April 30, saw the long-awaited premier of American Gods, based on Neil Gaiman’s popular 2001 award-winning novel of the same name. It has been a long wait in getting this book to any kind of screen–large or small–but the wait was well worth it. If anything, it going to mini-series format works best as it’s a rich, layered story that would not have been as satisfying at typical movie lengths.

The verdict?

“The Bone Ochard,” as the first episode shows much promise right out of the gate. I admit I was a little put off at first by the garish and over-the-top bloodiness of the opening Viking scenes, but then I remembered that this is a Starz production… you’re not always going to escape rivers of blood. That said, the first episode, I think, was most impressive in its faithfulness to the source material.

After a bloody “history lesson” concerning a disastrous Viking visit to the New World, we’re introduced to Shadow Moon, a man being released a few days early from prison so he can attend his wife’s funeral. Along the way he meets a man named Mr. Wednesday who hires him as a sort of driver/assistant/bodyguard. Shadow’s experiences re-entering society are thrown off a bit by a series of bizarre visions, air travel hishaps, angry mourners, and other strange (and violent) encounters. There is a lot of set-up going on here, and it’s hard to describe too much without dropping spoilers.

Running alongside all of this is an additional storyline featuring an enigmatic woman (Bilquis, an ancient love goddess) who hooks up with a guy which culminates in one of the more disturbing scenes ever written. It’s handled masterfully and when the viewer realizes exactly what’s going on in that bed… oh, the horror.

The horror.

I won’t be giving away much by discussing the overall theme of the story. It’s essentially a show down between the old gods of America–those that came with various waves of immigration, and those that were already here, and the gods of the modern world. It was a timely topic 16 years ago as technology and pop culture dominated the American landscape more and more, and is as timely today, if not more so, as technology and pop culture has dominated the American landscape.

How this plays out in American Gods is for you to see.

I have no idea how many people who will watch this series are familiar with the original novel.

While it’s over 15 years old, the book still sells reliably well. I think many fans are familiar with Gaiman’s work in general, though. The Sandman comics, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Neverwhere, Stardust, Coraline, etc. have made Neil Gaiman almost a household name.

While we’re still waiting for a good Sandman or Good Omens movie or series, American Gods has also been high on fans’ wish lists.

Its tone is pretty dark–more reminiscent of Gaiman’s earlier work such as Neverwhere than later, whimsical works like The Ocean At the End of the Lane. While pretty much everything Gaiman has written includes disturbing scenes, American Gods is likely going to surprise and even shock a few viewers.

It’s hard for me to separate my knowledge of the book with the Starz adaptation. Fortunately this is one of those cases where the book and the show are matching up pretty well.

The few places where it doesn’t are, frankly, for the best.

At the risk of giving a spoiler, I’m glad we weren’t given the name of Shadow’s cellmate (or, if we did, it was fleeting and I missed it). In the book, it was a kind of clumsy giveaway. The series gives the story a second chance to revise some minor flaws.

The pacing is handled quite well. Not too slow, but also not an onslaught. I’m curious to see how it will handle some of the slower portions from the middle of the book.

The overall story is not terribly subtle–which is okay. This is TV. Anyone with an inkling of knowledge of Norse mythology outside a Thor comic book is going to quickly notice a lot of hints and foeshadowing. The “bad guy” who appears to torment Shadow makes no bones about who he represents. He doesn’t come out and say he represents the new, homegrown American gods challenging the older immigrant American gods… but his look, style, threats and actions make it pretty clear.

I’ll give it to this production–they aren’t going to be coy–or, at least, not overly coy. For that, I thank them. I can get mysterious hints, foreshadowing, and riddles for endless seasons over at Game of Thrones, thankyouverymuch.

As for the cast… they may not be exactly how I envisioned them when I first read the novel, but the representations in the show seem to work perfectly well, and will work well for viewers who haven’t saddled themselves with certain expectations from the book. Ricky Whittle does a fine job as Shadow Moon. Ian McShane steals many scenes as Mr. Wednesday (which is totally keeping in character). Yetide Badaki is captivating as Bilquis, and I had a lot of fun watching Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney, a rather tall leprechaun.

So really… with the exception of a possible-too-much-fondness for over the top blood and gore, Starz has done a surprisingly good job bringing American Gods to the masses… well, the masses who have access to their network. Producers Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) and Michael Green (Kings, Smallville, Heroes) know and respect their material. Neil Gaiman is listed as an executive producer, and I think this is not just a giveaway title as it usually is. I think we can see his hand in the development of the adaptation as well.

All in all, it’s a great start to what looks to be a highly entertaining series and successful adaptation.

Looks like there will be more to Sundays than Game of Thrones for a little while.

Produced by Robert Rothbard,
Sally Lamb, Steven Belgard
Written by Sally Lamb and Robert Rothbard
Directed by Robert Rothbard
Starring Robert Homer Mollohan,
Edward Alfonso Lexington, Henry Hereford,
Merilee Brasch, Caleb Lane, Ivet Corvea,
Allexa D’Alessio, Andy David Bowland,
Janet Fontaine, Ronnie Marmo

An up and coming artist named Edward Alfonso Lexington seems to be the master of all styles and a worthy successor to the legacy of his famous artist father, all except for the fact that he doesn’t actually create “his” artwork.

It just so happens that he takes other young artists under his wing and helps to support them all while signing his name to their work and passing off as his own, then having them killed when they demand more money or credit.

Lexington’s luck starts to run out when his newest “apprentice” also happens to be a voodoo priestess who uses her powers to weaken him. Edward finally finds a muse to inspire his work but unfortunately the spells against him have started to show him for the twisted evil monster he is and his faithful servants must now scramble to combat the voodoo spells and save their master Edward.

The Painting: The Art Of Slaying is a movie that has some decent ideas and characters along with a handful of impressive special effects but other than that is kind of dull. The script seems to have been written for a broader comic style while the film makers attempt to make a somewhat highbrow film with mixed results since we get a few funny moments among the scenes of over-acted caricatures which literally include a mustache twirling villain and over the top accents.

The effects crew does an admirable job with a few gore shots and some creature work but overall the movie has a plain and at times over lit look that does little to distract from it’s other shortcomings. Unfortunately The Painting: The Art Of Slaying looks flat while it’s comedy falls flat.

The Painting: The Art of Slaying is now available on Amazon Digital HD

If there’s one thing guaranteed to get a nerd’s blood boiling, it’s a source material change. Without fail, movie adaptations of certain franchises inevitably burst whatever dam holds back the furious flood of slighted devotees from drowning the internet in their angry comments. They seem to believe that directors like Zack Snyder skip gleefully through the theater audience slipping blades of betrayal deeper and deeper into moviegoers backs, daring them to enjoy his wretched film. By the third act, viewers wonder if life is even worth living in a world where Ozymandias unites Earth against Dr. Manhattan instead of a giant psychic squid.

But here’s the thing, getting angry about film adaptations of your favorite comic books or regular books is missing the point. There are several reasons besides wanting to poison your childhood or destroying your sense of self that adaptations are made the way they are. Let’s walk through a few things I think are important to keep in mind. Here, take my hand. The healing starts now.

It’s A Different Medium

Maybe people have forgotten, but The Lord of the Rings is about 10 million pages in total. If you were stranded on an island with only that book, you would have kindling for a thousand years. Even spread across 3, 17-hour movies, there’s a lot that Peter Jackson was forced to cut. That’s a good thing.

There’s a reason that most films are in the 90-120 minute range. Just like eating a cheeseburger or a really good steak, the thing has to be experienced all at once, without breaks or… refrigerators. That’s all audiences can really handle. If a movie is really great, directors can stretch the thing to 3 hours, but it can be very taxing on moviegoers who forgot to pack sprinkle Adderall on their popcorn.

Think about virtually every other medium. Sure you can play videogames for 10 hours straight, but even with that it’s pretty easy to pause, go pee, grab some food,  or go on a date when one of your many girlfriends without missing anything. Any book you’ve ever read you’ve been able to put down and come back to. But, theater-bound films? That train is moving with or without you. Whether you like it or not, that’s the primary way films are supposed to be experienced, and the creator is tailoring it for that audience. Jackson -pressed for time – had to make cuts so people wouldn’t get (more) bored.

There’s also different elements and techniques that work for books that just don’t translate well to films. Sure they added more explosions than news reporting into an adaptation of World War Z, but what are they supposed to do? The novel – while brilliant – is basically just interesting interviews about how the world fell. The only thing that ties them all together is the book itself. There’s not much of a central plot. Brad Pitt had to muster all the magic in his flowing hair to build a cohesive story audiences could follow. Few would enjoy a movie with 13 different 10-minute plots following disconnected, random people. Big-budget movies can’t function that way, and they wisely changed the format to fit the medium.

No matter what we think, we don’t just want a “faithful” adaptation. We also want a good movie. Or, at least, we should want that.

And besides…

You’re Just Ruining The Movie For Yourself

By focusing on how exactly Spider-Man’s webs are made, you’re zeroing in on exactly the sorts of crap that don’t matter. If they made a new superhero movie tomorrow that wasn’t based on a comic book, what sorts of things would you get mad at?

Was anybody furious that the superhero in Unbreakable couldn’t handle water? Of course not, why would you even care? It’s a superhero movie; they always have some sort of goofy weakness to go along with their superpowers. Some superheroes are born with their gifts (or have them bestowed by the god of radioactivity), and sometimes they build their “powers” with their ingenuity or insane wealth.

Both are freaking fine.

The Tobey Maguire films didn’t collapse under the scandal of his ability to shoot web out of his skin, and the Andrew Garfield movies weren’t improved by keeping all his web in a can. One was a series of good movies (and Spider-Man 3), and the other was a very faithful, fat turd of a series.

Faithfulness didn’t improve anything.

And the honest truth is that…

Sometimes The Old Thing Wasn’t That Great

I’m not going to belabor this point because I don’t want you all to find out where I live and beat me with a stick, but sometimes the stuff you used to love isn’t very good. We tend to read things from our youth with rose-tinted glasses because they’re part of our earliest, formative memories. We can recognize how important and nostalgic those things are to us without arguing that they’re objectively perfect. Dissenters need not be tossed into the fires of Mount Doom.

Speaking of scary mountains, let’s go back to The Lord of the Rings for a second. Even though the climax of Return of the King was way too long in the movie, thank god they didn’t end it like the book. The Scouring of the Shire was dumb as hell. For those not in the know, the Scouring of the Shire was basically an extra bit at the end of the books where the hobbits need to kill Saruman who inexplicably survived the Battle of Isengard and then took over the Shire while the Hobbits were away. The story was over when SPOILER Frodo destroyed the ring.

Why in the world did Tolkien tack on this extra, small-scale crap at the end? It added nothing, yet nerds were still upset to see this bit included. Guys, you’re wrong. It’s stupid.

Even kickass action franchises have the same issues.

The Bourne franchise? Those books were a freaking slog. I read the first one, and at the end I felt just like the book’s titular character. I couldn’t remember anything about who I was, but I could definitely run a quarter of a mile in a full out sprint before I threw up and needed nachos. I’m sure some may argue, but the books were incredibly boring whereas the movies are freaking awesome (Jason Bourne notwithstanding).

And while I’m not well versed enough in comic books to be able to speak too much into it, how much are we really losing by writing less ass-slapping into the Daredevil show?

Faithfulness Is Boring

This may be stepping out on a limb a bit, but I prefer my movies to have some surprises. This extends to adaptations as well. Sure, there may be some scenes from the books or comics I can’t wait to see depicted on the big screen, but in general, I’d like to see something new.

At this point, I am fully aware that chill Joe Chill murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents. Movies cover this ground all the time and, while I understand it, not every movie needs to be a faithful origin story. Part of the reason Marvel movies are doing so well is because they’re largely past the origin stories the average American is aware of. I’m fine watching Doctor Strange’s origin story. I don’t know the characters very well, although they’re apparently all wrong somehow.

Having different endings or interpretations should be totally fine as long as the adaptors aren’t trying too hard to make a different point than the source material.

In Blade Runner, Ridley Scott pretty fervently believes Deckard is a replicant even though author Philip K. Dick is pretty adamant that he isn’t. In the books, it’s Dick’s view that makes sense. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is largely concerned with whether mentally-disabled humans would accidentally be considered not human by an empathy test. In the movie, Deckard is struggling with whether the robots are too human and therefore shouldn’t be retired.

It’s a different struggle and both are interesting. By taking different approaches, both materials compliment each other and explore different facets of the same story.

And all of this really boils down to how…

We Should Be Pumped They’re Adapting Your Favorite Franchise At All

Somewhere along the way, us nerds won the lottery. I grew up largely on Star Wars books and lembas bread, and never expected to see those franchises on the big screen (any more. I knew about the original trilogy, obviously). For comic book aficionados, it’s got to be ten times better. From now until the day you die, they’ll be making comic book movies. Thousands of them!

Spider-Man may or may not have built his web shooters in the right way, but surely that’s a small price to pay for the ability to see the things you loved as a kid (and probably even right now) adapted in a high-budget, competent way? Maybe not everything is translated perfectly, but so far it’s translating pretty damn well. Most of these Marvel movies are freaking good.

Comic books are literally the coolest thing in society right now. Thirty years ago, comic books were only for nerds. Now, it’s widely accepted as the hip, cool thing to talk about with your bagger at Wal-Mart. And while you can no longer hide in your niche, there will always be a place for darker, weirder comic books for those who value their uniqueness.

I, for one, am glad that nerd culture has come to be so much more widely accepted.

In that world, we are gods.

Camp Firewood is back, which means jean shorts, friendship bracelets and questionable adult supervision in the new Kickstarter campaign for the Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp Role Playing Game. 

Having already reached it’s goal, the Kickstarter campaign has already reached it’s first stretch goal, which doubles the number of pre-made characters in the Fantasy Camp manual from 15 to 30, including such characters as McKinley, Lindsay, and Can of Mixed Vegetables.  I had the opportunity to discuss the project with game creators, Geoffrey Golden and Lee Keeler.

*   *   *   *   *

FOG!: What was the genesis of the Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp RPG?

Lee Keeler: I had previously written some smaller books for The Devastator over a couple years and was looking to do a bigger project. We were all hanging out this one afternoon at a theme park and downing some beers and it struck me as odd that The Devastator had already created an RPG and also worked with Joe Lo Truglio. It seemed like somebody should try to make a Wet Hot game as well, and that somebody should be Devastator Press.

Geoffrey Golden: We decided Fantasy Camp would be a classic pen-and-paper tabletop RPG with mini-games based on camp activities. We wrote a draft of the game, play tested it a bunch, reworked mechanics, launched on Kickstarter, and here we are today!

How did you approach David Wain for the project and what was his initial reaction?

LK: We approached very carefully! His initial reaction was a joy for us because we found out that he liked the idea so much that he started looping in his producers and licensing people. That was crazy.

Did David Wain or co-creator Michael Showalter have any notes or specific opinions on gameplay?

GG: Mostly, they’ve just been supportive and approving. Like I wish my father would be… *Tear runs down cheek*

What is the premise of the game? Are you a new camper or a previously existing character? How are the established characters integrated into the game?

GG: Players take on the role of a camper, counselor or staffer at an insane camp. They have one day to achieve their Big Camp Dream, which can be anything the player chooses from gettin’ laid to winning an after hours 6-man street fight.

LK:  If you create your own campers, which most of our test players optioned for, the Camp Director can integrate running into the “classics” during your campaign as part of the natural story that he or she has constructed. It’s been wonderful because you kinda know that Gail is going to freak out on you, but you don’t know how Gail is going to freak out on you.

According to the Kickstarter, cast members Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, and Marguerite Moreau are also providing game tips. Have you reached out to any other cast members?

GG: We have. Hoping to reveal them soon, kind of like in Super Smash Bros. “New Camper Approaching!”

What separates the Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp RPG from other games?

GG: Unlike most RPGs, throughout the game are activities like arts & crafts, dance lessons, and even softball (or sneaking out of softball practice, depending on how you play). Also, since every player is trying to achieve their own Big Camp Dream, the experience is different from a classic group quest RPG – there are a lot of individual stories that overlap in fun and unexpected ways.

What are some of the rewards for the Kickstarter?

LK: Oh God, you’re trying to get me to say the words “dick cream” again, aren’t you? Well, dick cream dick cream dick cream dick cream dick cream. You can also become a character in the game, which is pretty nuts. I want my own Monopoly piece now. THE POWER.

It’s 1981 and you’re headed to Camp Firewood. What are your five favorite songs of the summer?

GG: “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield, “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones, “You May Be Right” by the incomparable Billy Joel, “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson, and completely ignoring the irony – because it’s my favorite song of all-time – “September” by Earth Wind & Wire.

LK: “Do you remembah-?!” So good! Oh God, I was a major dork at going-to-camp age, so it would have to be some equally amazing garbage like Abba, Foreigner or Foghat.

To pledge and enroll in Camp Firewood, click HERE!