Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/9/13

There were a lot of fun new books this week. Here are my thoughts:

Superman / Wonder Woman #1 - Tony Daniel rocks it on art. This is also the best use of Clark Kent's current professional situation I have seen so far.
Superboy #24 - This is chock full of good, old-fashioned monologueing (screw you spell-check, that's a word) from the new Psycho Pirate. The action beats could have been stronger and it would have been nice to see Superboy be more proactive.
Batman #24 - CHRIS NOLAN EAT YOUR HEART OUT! This is Batman for the 21st century. I would not have changed a thing.
Nightwing #24 - Writer Kyle Higgins does a really solid job tying up this story arc. The art makes it hard to tell who is who towards the end.
Batgirl #24 - The body forms look strange. Some more close-ups and reaction shots would really elevate the emotional impact of this story.
Worlds' Finest #16 - I hate to sound like a broken record but the art is inconsistent and the character dynamics are really strong.
Katana #8 - Cool Urumi swordfight. Are those things actually real? This title has been rough to read lately but this issue is a step in the right direction.
Green Lantern Corps - I love the way John Stewart employed military strategy and how effective the Corps can be even when their home is being annihilated.
Constantine #7 - There is a lot going on in this issue. Szymon Kudranski's art is perfect for this world.
Suicide Squad #24 - The hectic pace makes this a great Forever Evil tie-in. The chickens are coming home to roost for Amanda Waller. The plot twist at the end was perfectly executed.
Forever Evil: Arkham War #1 (of 6) - All of Batman's Villains are at each other's throats. What more could you ask for? The detail in the art, especially the facial expressions, really let these bad guys revel in their evil.
Coffin Hill #1 - Nice Crime / Supernatural blend. The main character is very distant and mysterious. I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
The Shaolin Cowboy #1 - The recap is two pages long, each with three columns of 4 point text. You don't have to read it but you should. This is tons of fun. Dave Stewart's colors really pop.
Rocket Girl #1 - Time travel, jet packs, and 1980s New York City. This is how you kick off a series. It is very quirky and lots of fun.
Three #1 - This feels too much like a history textbook. The first two thirds are flat and boring. The tension does pick up toward the end but by that time I did not really care anymore.

Lament: What to Watch Tonight?

I spent last Sunday night with my old pal, Satan, watching the Series Finale of Breaking Bad. It was the eighth straight Sunday I had spent up until all hours of the night rethinking Walter White's choices, trying to predict what was going to happen to the characters next.  I still vividly remember the night I decided to watch the first episode on Netflix Instant and was so drawn in I watched the entire first season in one sitting. Now the show is finally over. Sunday night is one of the few nights during the week I find myself wanting to watch prime-time TV. Unfortunately The Walking Dead does not premiere until next Sunday, and I am definitely not going to watch Low Winter Sun tonight. So instead I am probably going to end up watching football. First world problems, eh.

There were many things that made Breaking Bad special. When describing the show to friends, I have always said that one episode has more character development than most other shows will go through in an entire season. The show constantly raised the stakes and while Bryan Cranston's Walter White may have been a genius, it always seemed like he was in over his head. Nothing is more attractive to audiences than watching a character overcome insurmountable odds, even if that character is doing terrible and unforgivable things. That might be what really made the show unique. It gave the audience an even more awkward moral dilemma: "Do I still like this person?" It had all of the elements I enjoy in the best graphic novels. Over six years, the show never had a dip in quality and it ended in a way that answered every question. Some may say that it tied too neat a bow, but I can guarantee you that true fans of the show would not have it any other way.

Unfortunately AMC did not have the same luck with Low Winter Sun.  It seemed like a no-brainer. You had Mark Strong (the bald bad guy from every other action movie of the last few years) and Lennie James (Snatch, The Walking Dead) playing Detroit cops trying to cover up the murder of a crooked cop. There's intrigue and deception. What more could you want? Well, for starters a joke or two might have helped. I'm not saying this should have been a sitcom, but the show is bone-crushingly depressing and takes itself way too seriously. I know Detroit is a rough place to live. I have heard it described as Beirut without the palm trees. However, there was never a moment where we got to see these characters relax. There was no reason for us to relate to them. So in the end we just stopped caring and stopped watching. Even the most serious episodes of Breaking Bad had at least one moment that had me laugh out loud. That comparison may seem unfair, but AMC should not have had Low Winter Sun follow Breaking Bad if they did not want us to compare the two.

Next week I have the season premiere of The Walking Dead to look forward to. This show also has a very different feel. Instead of piling on action and tension every episode, it really takes its time. The premiere will allow the audience to get its bearings and see how the group has changed since last season. Then something exciting will happen and the next few episodes will be spent showing how everyone in the group reacts to those events and fights with each other to decide what to do next. Then the group finally reacts, everything hits the fan again, and the cycle starts over. It is predictable but people keep watching because they identify with these characters and struggle to figure out if they would react in the same way. Can Rick stop Carl from becoming too cold-hearted? Will Glenn and Maggie be able to start a family? Was Andrea really that stupid?

I guess I'll have to wait another week to answer those questions. In the meantime, go 49ers!

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/02/13

Villains Month is over and it is time to get back into the swing of the New 52. Plus I read a new Vertigo book and a couple of anthology books. Here are my thoughts:

Action Comics #24 - We get a strong re-introduction of Psycho Pirate but I would have liked to see more of his origin instead of reading him monologue about it. The second half of this issue really dragged.

Detective Comics #24 - The writing is a little heavy-handed but the action scenes are gorgeous.

Batwing #24 - The romantic arc here is really confusing. Ever since they took this book away from Africa it has become just another generic superhero book.

Earth 2 #16 - Some well-drawn fight sequences lead to a reveal that could have been much more shocking.

Green Arrow #24 - I love when Andrea Sorrentino's art gets cerebral. This story perfectly follows Count Vertigo's Villains issue and the ending reveal is very intriguing.

Green Lantern #24 - Relic really struts his stuff here but the art is not very detailed and does not hold up at times, especially the wide shots.

Swamp Thing #24 - Nice setup for what looks like an awesome showdown between Swamp Thing and the Seeder later this month in the Swamp Thing Annual.

The Movement #5 - The art makes my head hurt. I wish there was more of the Prince of Rats. He is by far the most interesting character in this title.

Forever Evil #2 (of 7) - Yay Otis! Geoff Johns brings one of my favorite DC movie characters into comics and then he has to be a jerk about it. Seriously, this is a really solid issue.

Hinterkind #1 - It is nice to see that New Yorkers still talk like New Yorkers after the apocalypse. This is a fresh take showing us the world years after everything hit the fan.

The Witching Hour #1 - Eclectic mix of stories. My favorites were "Fellow Travelers" and "Mars to Stay" which has nothing to do with Witches but was truly haunted.

CBLDF Liberty Annual 2013 - All of these stories were great fun. I liked how they went beyond comics and addressed the battle between censorship and free speech across all types of media. My favorite story was "The Shoot" because it reminded me of my film school days.

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 9/25/13

Here are my gut reactions to this week's stack of comics:

Metallo #1 - The action scenes have really nice wide shots but more close-ups would have nice so we could get a better sense of each character's emotions.
Parasite #1 - Some fun moments here but I wanted to see him stretch his bad guy legs more.
Doomsday #1 - I am a fan of this creative team but this issue makes absolutely no sense. It is supposed to be about Doomsday but WHERE IS DOOMSDAY?
Man-Bat #1 - Scot Eaton's art is gorgeous and Frank Tieri's story is so strong it makes you wish there was a second issue.
Bane #1 - Solid story but the art feels kind of weird. The backgrounds are very simple and the foreground seem too busy.
Killer Croc #1 - Tim Seeley does a great job balancing the narrative between the origin story and the Arkham War story.
Joker's Daughter #1 - This was an interesting concept but the execution here is mediocre.
Secret Society #1 - Another solid story but Szymon Kudranski's inking is a little too heavy to understand what is going on.
Black Adam #1 - There is some great world building and it is awesome to see this character (one of my favorites) step up and kick ass again.
First Born #1 - This has to be one of the strongest origin stories in Villain's Month with a fun framing device and a unique narration style.
Ocean Master #1 - I loved the non-verbal ways Ocean Master's character development is shown.
Sinestro #1 - The Art is beautiful but the story is very wordy and this is ultimately just a rehash of everything we already know about this character.
The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror #19 - The first half of this short anthology was cute but the story by Len Wein and Dan Brereton was both funny and really creepy at the same time.
Rat Queens #1 - This is a blend of raunchy humor and classic fantasy but it is really refreshing that this is just about four girlfriends hanging out with each other.
Sex Criminals #1 - Strange concept... Really different idea... Brilliant execution.

Nostalgia - "I Have the POOOWWERRRRRR!"

Way back in the day when I was knee-high to a motorcycle I lived across the street from Palmer Video. Every week I found myself in there renting and re-renting VHS classics like Adventures of Captain Marvel, Super Powers, and of course He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Palmer Video had a handful of episodes from the '80s cartoon and the characters looked nothing like the action figures I was getting from KB Toys in the Staten Island Mall (I found out later the toys were from the early '90s reboot).

Recently I was fumbling around on Netflix and found the old show and the crossover special He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword. I remember renting this about twenty years ago and realized that this was probably one of the first times I was introduced to the idea of expanded continuity. He-Man travels to a parallel universe and discovers he has a sister who also has powers. This was also cool because even though this is a kid show, it is played straight. There is not much tongue-and-cheek humor and the characters never talk down to the audience.

Even now, watching Prince Adam transform into He-Man gives me goosebumps. The music really swells up and something about it just feels awe-inspiring. It is kind of funny how they used the exact same sequence each and every time he transformed. Plus, it is weird to think that Prince Adam was worried about keeping a secret identity even though his face and body looked exactly the same. Somehow changing your clothes in Eternia completely throws off everyone. Go figure. Either way this cartoon played a huge part in my childhood and it was fun to look back at it now and see that it still held up pretty well.

Shotgun Reviews - 9/18/13

Here are some more gut reactions to the to the books I picked up this week. We are in the third week of Villains Month and Image threw out an incredible new #1. Check it out:

Lex Luthor #1 - This is a strong Forever Evil tie-in but it feels very one note emotionally.
H'el #1 - Dan Jurgens does a strong job on art but it is hard to see it because of the way Scott Lobdell massively overwrites this story.
Scarecrow #1 - You get loads of exposition for the upcoming Arkham Wars but not much else.
Penguin #1 - Here we get some good old-fashioned fun (If you think of murder and blackmail as old-fashioned).
Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins #1 - Like the Lex Luthor book this has a good story lack a strong emotional hook.
Clayface #1 - A clever and funny look at Forever Evil from a low-level supervillains point of view.
Dial E #1 - I have no idea what's going on here but the art is amazing.
Shadow Thief #1 - This reminds of the best issues of Stormwatch at the beginning of the New 52.
Cheetah #1 - We get the best of both worlds here. This is cool origin story and provides an intense new direction for this character to go in.
The Rogues #1 - For fun characters in bright colors, these guys do a lot of brooding and sulking.
Black Hand #1 - A really cool and different use of horror elements. This is probably my favorite use of this character since Blackest Night.
Eclipso #1 - If you ignore the idea that UPS randomly delivers rare, mystical gems to your doorstep, you will notice Billy Tan's creepy use of shadow and lighting.
Arcane #1 - This character is just as frightening as he has always been. It is also really cool to see Abigail Arcane in action as the Avatar of the Rot.
Deathstroke #1 - The story here is decent and the art is '90sriffic!
Zero #1 - Michael Walsh's style beautifully compliments this smart covert ops tale. I am definitely picking this up in trade.

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 9/11/13

Here ya go. These are some more reviews from the hip from the second week of DC's Villains Month.

Zod #1 - This was an interesting retelling of the Kryptonian General's origin but I would have liked to know more about Zod's current whereabouts.
Brainiac #1 - This guy is a real bastard. Still, I feel like I have already read this story.
Harley Quinn #1 - Neil Googe has a very fun style that adds a new dimension to Harley's sick an twisted perspective.
Riddler #1 - This is a great character study that is done by showing and not telling.
Court of Owls #1 - Not knowing their real identities makes the Court really creepy.
Mr. Freeze #1 - This is a solid story but artist Jason Masters's body forms look awkward.
Lobo #1 - I wish DC would publish  great space stories like this. It is a nice setup for the character but Lobo just does not look like a badass anymore.
Killer Frost #1 - Definitely the best opening page of the week but ultimately this story is just another rehash.
Solomon Grundy #1 - Writer Matt Kindt does an amazing job getting out of artist Aaron Lopresti's way to show this character's emotional pain.
Black Manta #1 - A bold new direction for this character. I cannot wait to see how his storyline plays out.
Reverse-Flash #1 - The art is inconsistent and the character development is clunky.
Mongul #1 - The time spent on the character's origin could have been scaled back but either way this guy means business.
Trigon #1 - This character's M.O. is very similar to Brainiac and Mongul but Marv Wolfman and Cafu's take feels very unique.