Episode 122: A Dick Grayson Pillow From Osaka

It is the final day of San Diego Comic-Con… which we were not able to attend. So, to make up for the fact that we were unable to report from the biggest comics event of the year, we distracted ourselves by catching up on some of the bigger recent announcements from the convention, and by seeing Star Trek Beyond, which is the third movie in the Bad Robot-produced reboot of the series, and not that fanfic movie that Universal Studios is suing like Rob thought it was until about three weeks ago.

It feels like the Star Trek franchise has lost some attention since J. J. Abrams left to direct a little indie film, and certainly our personal enthusiasms have been at different levels, as our relationships with the property have waxed and / or waned since our childhoods. And that differing excitement comes across as we discuss the movie: one of us finds it to be a fun popcorn flick with solid themes of making your own family, while the other thinks it has the crappiest Star Trek villain in 25 years and the worst film photography outside of an amusement park virtual reality attraction.

We also discuss:

• Justice League #1, written by Bryan Hitch with art by Tony S. Daniel, and:
• The Hellblazer #1, written by Simon Oliver with art by Moritat!

And the usual disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. Numerically not as many spoilers as the actual Star Trek Beyond trailer, but if you want to avoid knowing plot points smaller than the destruction of the U.S.S. REDACTED, consider yourself warned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. We speak extensively about the sexual connotations of a clown suit on a mannequin. If you don’t want those connotations read back to you during your annual performance review, get some earphones.

Note: During the show, we speculate that Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin was scheduled to direct The Flash. That was incorrect. We were thinking of James Wan, who also directed one of the Fast and Furious movies. And who, it turns out, won’t be directing The Flash.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:52:26 — 111.9MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 39: Filthy Manny: The Time Lord Who Tried, But Couldn’t

This week we’re joined by our longtime contributor Lance Manion, who, similarly to Amanda, has been watching Doctor Who since the 1970s. So, being most of the way through Peter Capaldi’s first season as The Doctor, we talk about the season so far, what we think works and what doesn’t, and what we individually want from a season of Doctor Who.

Conversely, Lance has very little background in the character of John Constantine. So we revisit the just-aired first episode of Constantine, discuss the key difference between the leaked pilot and the aired episode, and how the show works for fans of the character and people who only know him as the guy who was a jerk to Swamp Thing.

We also discuss:

• Deathstroke #1, written and penciled by Tony S. Daniel, and:
• Arkham Manor #1, written by Gerry Duggan with art by Shawn Crystal!

And now, the disclaimers:

• Normally, we record this show live to tape. However, we had a technical issue this week, which required some sound post-processing and some editing. However, we kept it as close to live as possible to maintain the spontaneity.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to yell out warnings ahead of time, assume that we will spoil any surprises you might hold dear.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is not safe for work. Unless you want to explain to your boss what the “Tuscaloosa Armpit Gank” is, get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:45:11 — 84.8MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Equitable Man Ass: Tony Daniel Sells Superman / Wonder Woman Badly At Toronto Fan Fest

Jesus Yammering Christ, is this what were reduced to now? Not just chasing that screeching tween Twilight dollar, but doing it hamfistedly and just fucking wrong?

All right, hold on; let me explain.

The Toronto Fan Expo was held this weekend. We did not attend this convention because we are still paying off our visits to the San Diego and Boston comic conventions (and are getting ready to pay our deposit for our emergency backup room for next year’s SDCC which, yes, we have already made reservations for), and because the nation of Canada has, based on a 1991 visit I made to Montreal, decided that my presence is so detrimental to their culture that even my American dollars don’t make up for it.

However, DC Comics was there, and as they do in most bigger conventions, they held a DC All Access panel to discuss upcoming books, such as Superman / Wonder Woman, written by Charles Soule with art by Tony Daniel and scheduled for a first issue release on October 9th. And Daniel was on that panel, and he addressed the impetus behind building a title around these two characters, who are two-thirds of a trinity of legendary characters created by DC.

And yeah: it turns out that that impetus wasn’t to tell legendary action stories. It apparently was to attract 11-year-old screechy girls and their sweet, sweet fistfuls of daddy’s cash.

Occupy Gotham: Detective Comics #5 Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: Spoiler alert! No, not Stephanie Brown, I just ruin the story for you.

The first four issue arc of Detective Comics was one of the most pleasant surprises of DC Comics’ New 52: tightly written with an interesting new villain, excellent art, and with the best cliffhanger of all September’s comics where The Joker’s face is apparently torn off and nailed to a wall. And what was most remarkable about the run to me was that it was written by Tony Daniel, who is first and foremost an artist. Now we’re on issue five. And it turns out that as a writer? Maybe Tony Daniel is a hell of an artist.

This  issue really felt like Daniel said, “Okay, I put my all into those first four issues… now what the fuck am I gonna do?” He opens up with a riff on Occupy Wall Street – which means he probably only came up with this arc within the past couple of months – and since this protest is pro-Joker, it just falls flat to me. Don’t get me wrong, as a Watchmen fan, I am totally willing to accept the concept of a good anti-vigilante demonstration in comics, but pro-Joker? In Gotham City? That’s about as believable as a pro al-Queda rally in lower Manhattan, or a pro-Beiber riot in Max’s Kansas City. It just doesn’t ring true.

Flipping The Bird: The Savage Hawkman #1 Review

Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers. But what do you care? It’s not like you were gonna read Hawkman anyway.

And, as usual, one last Wednesday morning review before the comic stores open…

For good or ill, we’ll end our coverage of DC’s New 52, which officially ends today with a new batch of #2 issues, with The Savage Hawkman #1. The Savage Hawkman is the story of Carter Hall, who has a harness made of Nth metal that allows him to… um… fly and stuff… and he… has… yeah, sorry. The problem is I don’t care about Hawkman. The problem is that nobody cares about Hawkman. The only person who cared about Hawkman was Hawkgirl, and nobody gave enough of a fuck about Hawkgirl to leave her alive.

The upside of that general apathy is that it allows writer Tony Daniel to try almost anything he wants to make Hawkman interesting for a new generation. The downside is that what he tries feels like throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. Almost literally.

Daniel opens this new chapter in Hawkman’s rebooted life by showing how exciting it is to be Hawkman… by having him be a depressed alcoholic who hates being Hawkman so much he tries to kill his costume with a flare gun.

Let’s take a moment and examine that, shall we? As a New 52 book, this is meant to make new readers excited about characters they aren’t familiar with. And Daniel has decided to introduce us to this new Hawkman by telling us that:

1. Even Hawkman thinks that being Hawkman sucks, and:
2. Hawkman’s power set is so weak that even Hawkman himself thinks he can be defeated by a roman candle.

Detective Comics #1: Don’t You Know What The Night Can Do

Tony Daniel draws one hell of a Batman. He’s got some kind of bastardized mixture of 1990’s McFarlane, modern Jim Lee fine line and detail work going that makes things just look exciting and keep the eye on the panel, combined with enough broadly inked, shadowed, Frank Miller-style panels of Batman in silouette that mix together to make an instantly recognizable, iconic style of Batman art. Of all this week’s New 52, Detective Comics #1 is probably my favorite in the art department, which is saying a lot considering this week included work by Rags Morales, George Perez and Yanick Paquette. Then again, considering this week’s art included Rob Liefeld’s Hawk & Dove, Daniel could have drawn Batman as: “>(:|)-<=<” and still not been my least favorite. Seriously, though: I’m liking the look of this book.

Daniel is putting together a pretty solid entry-level Batman plot in this book as well. Make no mistake; for the first 18 pages or so, he’s not exactly reinventing the wheel: Batman feeling tortured by failing to prevent the Joker’s murders, persuing Joker relentlessly only to end chase to save a little girl from danger and evading capture by the police via an attack helicopter chase, all in Batman’s first major story following a reboot, is not exactly groundbreaking storytelling (*cough* *cough* Dark Knight Returns *cough*). But Daniel keeps the story moving along and entertaining, and breaks up what could be considered derivative by introducing the concept that Joker might commit his crimes while naked, which made even this old Batman fan take notice and comment: “AAAAAAAAAAANOOAAAAAWHYYAAAAAAA”.

Writing Big

Now to me, here’s some good news: Tony Daniel, the writer and artist on the DC Rebooted Detective Comics #1, did an interview with USA Today talking about how he’s writing some honest-to-Christ Batman whodunit stories, as opposed to stories about The World’s Greatest Caveman No Pilgrim No Why Is Batman Time Traveling Curse You Morrison Your Weed Is Laced Arrrgh.

The article has a bunch of art from Detective Comics #1. Check it out and come back…

Not only is Daniel apparently committed to doing some old school detective comics, he’s the first creator on a major DC book I’ve heard really taking advantage of the reboot to come up with some new villains: