Countdown to Fables #100: Around the Town

Welcome to today’s entry to the Countdown to Fables #100, where on Tuesday and Friday I recap a story told within the pages of Fables.  This will happen up until issue #100 is released on November 24th.  If you’re new to the countdown, an archive of all previous entries can be found under our Special Features menu.  Today’s story is titled “Around the Town.”  In this story, the newest member of Fabletown is introduced to the town, while they are forced to cope with his presence.  The identity of the Adversary does appear in the recap, which is after the break.

Countdown to Fables #100: War and Pieces

Welcome to today’s entry to the Countdown to Fables #100, where on Tuesday and Friday I recap a story told within the pages of Fables.  This will happen up until issue #100 is released on November 24th.  If you’re new to the countdown, an archive of all previous entries can be found under our Special Features menu.  Today’s story is titled “War and Pieces.”  In this story, the war between Fabletown and the Adversary is fought to the end.  The identity of the Adversary does appear in the recap, which is after the break.

Comic Book Movie Review: Red

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Written by John Hoeber & Erich Hoeber

Starring
Bruce Willis as Frank Moses
Mary Louise-Parker as Sarah Ross
Karl Urban as William Cooper
Morgan Freeman as Joe Matheson
John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs
Helen Mirren as Victoria

Red is about a group of retired CIA agents that go on the run when the CIA tries to kill them.  The story starts showing Frank Moses unable to transition to his new life.  His only company is the woman who handles his pension complaints, Sarah Ross.  Frank is sent on the run when a black ops team comes to his house.  One by one he meets up with the other members of his group, and together they investigate why the CIA would be trying to kill them.

I greatly enjoyed this movie.  I would call this an action/comedy, but the comedy in this movie was pretty subtle.  Everyone played their roles straight, and let the comedy come from the dialogue and situations.  John Malkovich was very serious in his role while doing completely ridiculous things.  Helen Mirren was so “matter-of-factly” with everything, that most things she said were absolutely hilarious.  And Mary Louise-Park went through most of the movie with a wide-eyed amazement of everything going on around her.  It was adorable.

Red is based on the comic written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Cully Hammer.  Unfortunately, I’ve never read the book, so I can’t really say how closely the adaptation is to the original.  However, after seeing the movie, I am going to try to find the book now.  I find that I like the goofy Warren Ellis more than serious Warren Ellis.

So, in conclusion, I highly recommend that you see this movie.

 

Helen Mirren + machine gun = badass awesomeness

 

 

The final fate of Dr. Doom

New Comic Day hangover

Light haul this week.

• New Mutants #18 in which our heroes face an unlikely blast from the past.
• And X-Factor #210 in which we go to something completely different.

There is a lot of stuff past the jump, and it’s got SPOILERS in it.  Beware.

Countdown to Fables #100: Skullduggery

Welcome to today’s entry to the Countdown to Fables #100, where on Tuesday and Friday I recap a story told within the pages of Fables.  This will happen up until issue #100 is released on November 24th.  If you’re new to the countdown, an archive of all previous entries can be found under our Special Features menu.  Today’s story is titled “Skullduggery.”  In this story, Cinderella goes on her mission to retrieve an important package for Fabletown’s war effort.  The identity of the Adversary does appear in the recap, which is after the break.

The tragic Mark Trail

I know absolutely nothing about the newspaper strip Mark Trail…except for that this is the greatest comic strip I’ve ever seen in my life.

There simply are no words.

Countdown to Fables #100: Kingdom Come

Welcome to today’s entry to the Countdown to Fables #100, where on Tuesday and Friday I recap a story told within the pages of Fables.  This will happen up until issue #100 is released on November 24th.  If you’re new to the countdown, an archive of all previous entries can be found under our Special Features menu.  Today’s story is titled “Kingdom Come.”  In this story, Boy Blue settles some business at The Farm before heading to a war council meeting.  The identity of the Adversary does not appear in the recap, which is after the break.

New Comic Day hangover

Okay, so I’m a few days late on this one.  At least it’s within the week, right?  Be quiet now and let’s get to it.

This week, we’re looking at…

• Booster Gold #37 in which everything gets more chaotic than usual.
• Justice League: Generation Lost #11 in which Max Lord avoids the future by making the present more like it.
• And X-Men #4 in which we get a whole lot of talking.

The usual SPOILERS past the jump warning is in effect.

A ‘bat’ of a problem

If my news is correct, I believe that once the currently running Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne mini wraps up, DC will be launching two lines of Batman books, one with Dick Grayson continuing on as Batman and one with Bruce Wayne reclaiming the cowl.  To me, whose only foray into the DCU involves other characters who occasionally interact with Batman, this presents a bit of a problem.  See below:

Don't feel bad if you guessed wrong.

Some recent comics (like a recent issue of Justice League: Generation Lost, for example) have been having Batman appear in cameo or supporting roles.  This has left several readers, myself included, wondering just who it is under the cowl.  In the JL:GL example, Batman has begun to realize that the JLI’s actions against the mysterious (to him, at least) Maxwell Lord is worth investigating.  This would be a big deal to me if it was Bruce Wayne figuring this out, since Bruce was a longtime member of the original JLI and had lots of interaction with Lord in his earliest of appearances.  Dick Grayson, on the other hand, has had zero interaction with the JLI or Lord, so this – as well as his interaction with Power Girl in the Batcave – comes off as rather odd.  Most of this is assumption on my part, though, as I’m really not familiar with Dick Grayson’s history in the DCU proper.

There’s not a real solution to this issue, since it’s not like the story really gives space to name drop in every guest appearance that Batman shows up in.  Before now, there was never really a need.  Rarely do heroes pass down their identity, and usually when it happens there’s a notable difference between the two heroes’ look.  In the case of the Flash, there was a discernable personality difference between Wally West and Barry Allen, and even without it, heroes usually refer to them as ‘Barry’ or ‘Wally’. 

Such is not the case with Batman.  There is no good way to tell the difference between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson in the Batman costume and the character is not one that allows the kind of interaction needed to make the difference obvious to the readers.  I have no idea how DC plans on keeping two Batmans running around, but however they do it, hopefully it addresses the situation.

Important?  Probably not.  But it does irk me, and blogging is the best place to air said irks.