This looks pretty fun I have to say!
Update ….. and it is down. It was fun while it lasted.
Update 2 …. and the official trailer is up! Enjoy!
A Daredevil Worth Watching!
Netflix gave me a birthday present not to long ago when they launched their new comic book based TV show Daredevil. This show has nothing to do with the unfortunate Ben Affleck movie, well besides that it features the same character. It is still Matt Murdock beating up bad guys, but now it takes place in a believable world, and it is not pulling its punches.
It is a tale as old as time (sing it Angela). An orphan wants to makes his home a better place, so he uses his extraordinary abilities to take down crime. In this case that orphan is the blind Matt Murdock played by Charlie Cox who I am sure you know from Stardust. You don’t know him from Stardust? You are a terrible person! Well back to the review, Murdock, a local defense attorney, is trying to cleanup his part of New York City known as Hell’s Kitchen, but he is finding it harder than he anticipated.
What I love about this series is that it is so much more brutal than any other Marvel property as of late. When the good guys and bad guys go at it, they really go at it. There is blood and bone crunching, and people will die. While it fits nicely within the Marvel Universe, you can definitely tell this corner of it was inspired by Frank Miller’s (Sin City) run with the character in the 90’s. It has that dark washed out feel to it that is quite different than the bright and almost cheery Marvel Movie Universe.
If Daredevil is setting the tone for things to come in the Marvel TV Universe, I am very excited. It shows that Marvel is finding more stories to tell outside the Avengers. Not to rag on Agents of SHIELD which has now found its footing, but some separation from the movies will do wonders for these new TV shows. With the good work they have done with Daredevil, I can’t wait to see AKA Jessica Jones!
Aquaman Gets The Comic Book He Deserves
For one reason or another Aquaman has always been thought of as a joke. I guess it has something to do with his water based powers, or maybe it was his terrible representation in the old Super Friends cartoon, but whatever the case besides being able to control fish, he is super strong, can jump long distances, and has a weapon that can pretty much destroy anything. Despite all this people still look down on him, and that is what Geoff Johns and crew address in Aquaman’s New 52 re-launch. Even as a fan of Green Lantern, I have to say Aquaman may be Johns’ best work.
In this book Aquaman (Arthur Curry) has given up ruling the sea kingdom of Atlantis, and he and Mera (don’t call her Aquawoman) decide to instead protect the coastline from harm. The humans in the area misunderstand him, and they think of him as a looser in the superhero community even though he is regularly saving their lives. He is constantly the butt of their jokes. While this gets on Mera’s nerves, Aquaman does his best to let it go and still do what is right.
I love that Aquaman continues to be a hero even though people don’t really like him that much. It is easy to rescue people when they love you, but to save them even though they mock you is another thing entirely. It was smart of Johns to bring that real world aspect in to the book. It just makes Aquaman that much more relatable. Here he is saving the day, but people are still not giving him the respect he deserves. I think we all feel that way sometimes, and I hope that we deal with it as well as Arthur Curry.
I have heard that Aquaman was the best New 52 comic book, and after reading the first trade paper back I can see why. It looks great, and it tells a great story about an underappreciated hero. I hope that he is given the respect he deserves in the upcoming Justice League movies, so that he will thought of as more than just the guy that can talk to fish in the future.
Ride In An ATLAS!
Well I read another free book from Amazon, but this time it was a Sci-Fi space combat novel, so pretty much like every other book I read. The book in question was ATLAS by Isaac Hooke. I know every space combat novel steals from Starship Troopers, but this one even featured the Navy MOTHS (the guys that get to pilot the ATLAS mechs) fighting bugs (crabs attached to slugs to be more specific). Now if you are going to copy from a book, you may as well copy from the best, so at least once this book got going the action was good, but everything else was just okay.
I usually try and write three hundred words in my reviews, but I think the above paragraph was I all needed. It was an okay book about guys shooting stuff that I didn’t have to pay for thanks to the Amazon Lending Library. So if you have Amazon Prime and want a quick read, you could do worse, but you can also do a lot better.
Shmee Takes A Trip With The Suicide Squad!
One of the more successful New 52 re-launches was the Suicide Squad. The Suicide Squad has been gaining a lot of fans lately with their involvement in the hit show Arrow, and the announcement of a big screen adaptation being led by Will Smith. That is all fine and dandy, but how is the new(ish) comic book? I have read volume one of the trade paper backs and it is pretty good!
For those of you that don’t know, the Suicide Squad is made up of a bunch of supervillains who are trying to work off their sentences by working for the Government. This team is ran by Amanda Waller, and headed up by Deadshot. Though the fan favorite of the group is no doubt Harley Quinn. The rest of the group rotates … or dies. The Suicide Squad name is no joke.
I love the action this book portrays. There is almost never a downbeat. While it is go go go all the time, they still manage to work in quite a bit of character development, so you do care about this rag-tag group. This book explores the strange and abusive relationship of Harley and the Joker, and the PTSD and family life (or lack their of) of Deadshot, and it is quite gripping.
What I didn’t like is that they thought they needed to make Amanda Waller and Harley sexier. Harley was always dressed to impress Mr. J, but now she just looks like an odd street walker, and Waller who was always known for being 300 pounds and not caring what she looked like is now some sort of business suit supermodel. Their characters still come through strong, but it is just a shame that DC thought these character redesigns where necessary, especially when Waller and Harley were fan favorites anyway.
I liked this book, and I will be reading more of the trade paper backs (unless a comic book store moves close to me so I can get monthlies). People have been hard on the New 52, but I have liked a lot of what I have read, I think a lot of people just don’t like change, and while it was mean of DC to just throw away decades worth of back story, the comics for what they are, are still pretty good.