wonder woman Archives - GeeksHaveGame

March 24, 2021March 28, 2021

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE [Review]: Final Crisis?

“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Twitter @captzaff007

I won’t go into the background. We know the origin tale of Zack Snyder‘s original vision of Justice League, and his terrible family tragedy, and the continued tragedy of the studio interference that led to the theatrical release, directed by Joss Whedon (although the theatrical cut still lists Snyder as director, so…). We know the campaign, the reshoots, yada yada yada. But now the question remains: was it all worth it?

I may not have been the core audience for this film pre-release, since I absolutely loathe Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and have been getting nothing but sketchy vibes from both Snyder and his hoards of fanboys (our group chat and Facebook feed has been something else this past weekend); but, I will admit that this cut of Justice League is a superior film and actually shows some growth with Snyder and his vision of these characters. He does seem to have learned some lessons from whatever it was he was he thought he was doing with BvS.

With a stumbling first hour (and, look, I absolutely do not care about anything in the Knightmare future at all), this film offers much more satisfying character bits that actually flesh out the characters of Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) and Vic Stone (Ray Fisher), and make villain Steppenwolf’s (Ciaran Hinds) motivation much more clearer, thus increasing the stakes of the film.

Computer animators LOVE animating all these tiny moving metal pieces!

Following the death of Superman (Henry Cavill) at the hands of Doomsday — and boy do we linger on that sequence — Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) set about trying to track down several other metahumans that have been only hinted at, having hidden themselves away from society. Once together, they encounter Steppenwolf at a silo, and, getting promptly beaten, realize the only being capable of defeating Steppenwolf — and, by extension, hold off the coming of the leader of the New Gods, Darkseid (Ray Porter) — is Superman. Resurrecting Superman comes with its own risks, but, ultimately, his reappearance is enough to keep the forces of Darkseid and Apokolips at bay. For now…

If that sounds awfully familiar, it should: the story beats are exactly what was released in theaters some four years ago. The entire first hour of the film is a rearrangement of the later section of the first act of the theatrical cut, with the opening Superman death scream being the impetus for the Mother Boxes awakening– which attracts Steppenwolf’s attention. From there, the film immediately jumps to Batman tracking down Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), while intercutting with the Mother Boxes awakening, and Wonder Woman relating Earth’s first encounter with Darkseid, some five thousands years in the past.

There’s more of ME in this movie! Know who ELSE is in this movie?…

This opening hour is probably the weakest aspect of this new cut: much noise has already been made of the over-abundance of slow motion shots. But that actually isn’t an issue. Snyder views these characters as gods among humans (akin to the NetherRealm video game series, Injustice), so the framing and lingering of them in this context makes sense, and most of the musical cues for Wonder Woman especially are not only distracting, but get overused to the point of being silly. There’s such a self-seriousness with how the film treats theses characters in the first half that it borders on parody; the wailing war-cry to Wonder Woman is so wildly distracting.

While the action beats are more coherent and well structured, there are additions of gore that seem…odd. Case in point, Wonder Woman’s thwarting of a terrorist attack includes her throwing one against a wall; it isn’t enough for her to just knock him out, the end result is a growing pool of blood, and a bloody crater where he’d impacted. Always there seems to be a beat that lingers just a second too longer, the addition of blood that adds nothing more than just its own addition, of shots that add texture, but no subtext. Snyder’s stated that he “makes movies for grown ups” (in this movie that features a man dressed as a bat, water breathers, aliens, and fucking Zeus), but that doesn’t necessarily mean “grown up movies need to include de-saturated color, bloody violence, and Batman saying ‘fuck’ for…some reason?” But then again…this is definitely his movie: goofy musical cues, overly busy armor design, cringy dialogue and all.

But that’s only the first hour. Once the plot is in motion and the movie gets going, it gets going. The Flash and Cyborg are considerably improved by the increased run-time; no longer relegated to bit players, they have actual motivation and development, and that makes the entire rest of the film that much richer. No longer is their relationship boiled down to a few lines of dialogue while digging up Superman’s body; we see how their otherness affects them and brings them together, making their friendly fist-bump at the end actually mean something other than looking cool.

And finally, seeing the Speed Force in a feature film — one that seems to understand how uniquely important the Flash is as a character — was a delight. While people may be more excited at seeing Superman wearing the color black, I was genuinely excited to see him arrive just in time for the final battle, and to hear the new motif that Hans Zimmer had written for him, once again.

Non-dour color schemes are for poor people!

With some tighter editing and a co-writer capable of tempering Snyder’s more self-indulgent, and questionable, decisions, this would have been an enjoyable theatrical viewing. This movie is a vast improvement on Snyder’s last foray into the DC Universe, and it seems that he learned most of the right lessons from BvS, which seemed to boil down to “make a watchable movie that is enjoyable”.

There’s just enough genuine hope for each individual character by the end of the film to have made the effort worth the trouble. That is, at least until the Knightmare stinger… Ugh. Really, the entire movie could have ended without this addition and have been much stronger, since it would no longer be hinting at a future that would never be explored (but that’s just me). I have been to every Snyder film on opening day since 300 came out — and yes, I went to see BvS opening night — so my criticisms are not to the director, but to specific works, and I would probably have added this to that list as well, and not regretted it.

I legitimately enjoyed this sequence and everything leading up to it.

This film is an impressive achievement, and were circumstances different, and a pandemic not roiling the world, it is doubtful that Warner Brothers would have bothered to revisit this project. While this version hints at projects that won’t come to pass (and that might be a blessing, considering some of the more wacky ideas Snyder was looking to explore in the sequels. WOW.), for what it is — an Elseworlds type of adventure — it is strong. The #SnyderCut even hints at Ryan Choi’s (Zheng Kai) future work as the Atom, or the mere existence of Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix), who probably would have been a big help during the Steppenwolf attacks!

While this is not The Greatest Movie Ever Made, and it’s not even the best DC Comics movie ever made, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a vast improvement, and there’s enough richness in there to have made it worth the time. I genuinely enjoy this movie. Just after that first hour. 4/5 Martian Manhunters Popping Up At The Very End When He Probably Should Have Helped Fend Off The Alien Invasion.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.

December 25, 2020December 26, 2020

WONDER WOMAN 1984 [Review]: Wish Upon A Star.

Premiering Christmas Day, director Patty Jenkins‘ follow-up to her blockbuster, classic hit Wonder Woman might not be the slam-dunk sequel on par with its predecessor, but given the state of blockbuster cinema, and inspiring stories, it has its heart in the right place, even if it has feet of lead…

Set (obviously) in the year 1984, this pastel-hued film follows Gal Gadot‘s superheroine Diana Prince, who has been crisscrossing the globe for the past seventy-odd years, searching for one of her own Amazons who had disappeared some decades prior. She has settled down in Washington DC, working at the Smithsonian Institute, and trying to reconnect with humanity in general. While the film opens with a jewelery store raid at an ever-so-80’s shopping mall that she thwarts, she continues to hide her existence from the world.

As this goes on, we are introduced to Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a smarmy, oily con-man looking for his big break into the world of oil speculation, where he hopes to not only peddle influence, but to be something resembling a success to his young son, Alistair. And finally, we are introduced to the mousy, awkward Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a gemologist/cryptozoologist/archeologist who soon grows to admire…and then resent…Diana.

This is a silly film. Compared to its predecessor, it is lighter, brighter, and more broad in scope and ambition, but in aiming for more, it loses some of the focus and determination that made the first film such a rousing success.

There are some great moments, mind you: the opening sequence at Themiscyra, for one, really really strove for scale, and given the aspect ration on the TV, was screaming for an IMAX screen; a mid-movie sequence involving a military convoy was exciting and innovative, if not more than just a bit goofy with its physics; Diana figuring out of to fly seemed like one of those moments that seem lost in modern superhero films where the characters actually enjoy their marvelous abilities (it also harkened back to a similar scene in Man Of Steel where Superman also figures out how to fly…that scene, surprise surprise, is also my favorite of the whole movie); and finally, seeing Maxwell Lord’s difficult journey growing up actually leant a bit of depth and pathos from what could otherwise have been a stock character.

You might notice the lack of mention of Chris Pine. There’s something so…awkward…about his reintroduction here; my fiancée had the exact same questions the characters themselves had within the movie about how he returned, but the answers were less than satisfying. It’s a shame, because he adds a much-needed bounce to the movie with his fascination with 80’s culture, and Pop-Tarts. Even the anachronistic elements with the character (how would he know what a jet is?) can be forgiven since he and Gadot have actual chemistry– something Wiig and Gadot, sadly, do not. At no point did I believe those two women would actually go out for a meal together.

That said, Wiig fares a bit better than I had anticipated as one of the villains, although she seemed to be playing big with the awkwardness of her character; it also seemed a shame that some of her one-liners fell flat in her early scenes, but I was surprised that she actually sold some of her more physical scenes.

Lord’s plan seemed to have no true end point, which seems to be apt for the setting, the era of excess and gaudiness, but as a result there was no real sense of what the stakes were until the third act, when it turned out the stakes were everything. But Pascal does well here: he can play a likeable(ish) asshole well, while still maintaining a sense of constant desperation to not be a “loser”, as well as play a father desperate to be seen as a success to his son, although his son did seem to have only one expression: one of empty detachment.

What this movie does right, though, is set aside the cartoony climactic fight that weighed down the first film, and actually have the villain and hero actually talk their way down. At a time of hyper-polarization, and self-centeredness, this is a film saying sometimes you have to give up what you want right now so you can have a better future, and help make a better future for everyone else. At first the opening flashback seemed out of place, but seen through a longer lens, it shows that knowing what truth is is much more than being Right.

Winning and succeeding aren’t always the same things, and sometimes giving up on what you want most is the best decision you can make because it is the right one to make. Sure, we want our superheroes running around, slapping the bad guys and making the day right, but sometimes making the day right means giving something up. And that’s fine, because ultimately we all succeed. By giving in to base desires, as Lord grants in the film, the world becomes an unlivable mess.

Hans Zimmer‘s score, as is to be expected, is rousing in the right moments: the use of the Wonder Woman theme is sparse, though, which elevates those moments when it does appear; and thankfully he reworks it so it isn’t as blaring as it has been in its past appearances. The cinematography seems better suited for the small screen, however; cinematographer Matthew Jensen couldn’t seem to quite grasp the scope and epic scale that he’d captured in the first film (there was something definitively small about the jewelry store raid) that made it feel a bit like a Netflix movie. And there was something so off about the physics of this movie that kept pulling me out (to say nothing of several coincidences and plot conveniences that were waved away by a line or two).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKUxMjPunUc

This is a fun movie, almost stupidly silly, and, if Jenkins’ assertion that the series be treated more like the James Bond franchise, not necessarily linked by continuity, is to be followed, this film is more akin to “Diamonds Are Forever” or “A View To A Kill”: disposable, but not franchise ending. It does not have the cultural or story impact of its predecessor, nor does it have any Big Moment akin to the No Man’s Land sequence. But it has a message that perhaps needs to be heeded more, and it is actually refreshing to see another DC Comics movie actually embrace its goofiness.

This movie has heart, but not logic, and it suffers a bit for that, but there have been worse adaptations, and for a family-friendly superhero film, you could do much worse. 3.25/5 Asteria Golden Armors.

–J.L. Caraballo

September 29, 2020

WONDER WOMAN 1984 / JUGGERNAUT / BATMAN – THREE JOKERS / X OF SWORDS [Reviews]: Fistful of Truth.

Destiny “Evangelical” Edwards
@mochaloca85

With just a couple of months left before the release of the second Wonder Woman film, DC dropped this tie-in. The theme of the comic? Kids. We start with a fun tale written by Anna Obropta and Louise Simonson entitled “Museum Madness.” In it, three teenagers spend detention at the museum with Diana when some thieves decide to steal a diamond and take few hostages.

Bret Blevins’ character designs are peak ’80s and fit the tone of the story well. It was an enjoyable read. Less enjoyable was the backup story “Wolf Cubs,” in which a group of kids steal Wondy’s Lasso of Truth so they can use it to take down the Wall Street assholes who look down on their parents. It was.. meh. I will admit that I did chuckle a bit at Steve Trevor falling down a hole and again at the end when he and Diana agree to never speak of that day again. 3.25/5 Teens With Samurai Swords.

-Destiny Edwards

I was hoping to tear into this book or prop it up, but my middle three Bibles are justified. I wanted to read some Fabian Nicieza since his OG New Mutants, X Force, and Deadpool days. No old fart can forget his X Force crossover storyline with Spiderman with the horizontal art.

OK.. so.. I forgot the story but we all remember the art. But Nicieza played a pivotal roll in bringing Ryan Reynolds a comic book character he could play in a movie. I always loved Juggernaut as a heel beating Colossus, fighting the Hulk, taking bumps from Thor only to get taken out by Kitty Pryde. Speaking of fighting Colossus, Ron Garney really tips his hat to John Romita JR, with his pencils in this book. Ron Garney’s nostalgic JRJR feel really won me over. The storyline is clever as he unwittingly finds someone who can stop Juggernaut by…. no spoilers.

Having just read and reviewed Immortal Hulk #0, I was happy to see the the Tree at the Crossroads make another appearance. The story isn’t too complicated and quite succinct. It leaves us with questions about how Juggs re-acquired his power. I was disappointed because I thought the book would play a role in the prequel to X of Swords since it was listed in the X books. It left me hanging on that.

I do want to read Juggernaut issue 2 and I hope they don’t skip the fight scenes like in Aaron’s Thor book with the recycled hammers. This book had action and tongue in cheek dialogue between Cain and his brand new character opponent. #BlackGirlMagic Nicieza attacked this book like an in-ring technician: no high flying or high risks maneuvers, just good wr…iting. 3/5 Brown Leather Bound Bibles (like Cain Marko’s Body Armor).

-Rob Maldonado

Batman: Three Jokers continues rolling on, speeding toward an explosive conclusion. While issue one started off with a bang of a setup, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok ease into the meat of the story, jumping off from last issue’s climatic ending.

The second issue is a slower burn than the first, having the ease of bringing the reader deeper into the insanity of multiple Jokers. While Johns creates a weighty book of exposition, you never feel stuck under quicksand by the amount of type on a page. He continue to explore the possibility of multiple Jokers while not falling for the notable cliche of multiple earths or parallel universes.

Fabok is easily is one of DC finest artists shouldering the workload and bringing Johns’ words, to life under his delicate pencil. The man can draw, bringing the story to shape. In his hands, each page hums with vivid detail and a brilliant carry-over design concept of Johns’ Doomsday Clock. Fabok use of six to nine-panel page layout continues in the tradition of Watchman. While others would suffer under such designs, Fabok’s work is simply delicious.

The second issue is brilliant, while a slower burn, Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok, deliver the goods on both art and writing. After waiting nearly five years for this story, the tale has been worth waiting for. 5/5 Bibles.

-Adrian Garcia

“Cardinal” Gary Brooks @ facebook.com/gary.brooks

Here we go again! It’s time for another reality bending, multi-dimensional X-Men crossover. The first official book in the X of Swords storyline has just dropped, and “Creation” is a doozie: 65 action-packed pages set up this 22 book crossover that spans the entire X-book line, and promises to change the status quo of all mutants forever.

As we all know by now, Mutant-kind as a new home on the island of Krakoa where all mutants are welcome and all past sins are forgiven. Krakoa is a living, breathing mutant shaped like an island, and at one point in time it was split in half by the Twilight Sword, thus becoming two islands. Krakoa’s sister island Arakko was lost in a great battle. During this time the ancient mutant Apocalypse sacrificed his wife, children and many mutants to stop a great evil from spilling into our dimension…

Now, Apocalypse has created a gateway — similar to the gates mutants have been using to travel to and from Krakoa — to the Otherworld dimension where Arakko the lost half of Krakoa has been all these years. After Banshee, Unus and the Summoner are sent to the other side to investigate, only Summoner and a mortally wounded Banshee return. With grave news, the Quiet Council decides to send another team of mutants including Havok, Beast and led by Apocalypse to assess the threat. Once there they find Apocalypse’s lost children and a threat like nothing the X-men have faced before.

It’s all a bit confusing at this point in the story, but apparently there are 10 powerful swords scattered across the Marvel Universe that 10 champions must wield to defeat this ancient enemy that threatens to destroy Krakoa and everything in their path. Chapter 1: Creation is brought to us by legendary world-builder Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and beautifully drawn by Pepe Larraz. There’s a lot to digest in the first chapter, but there’s no dobut that things will become clearer as the story unfolds. 4/5 X-Swords.

-Gary Brooks

August 22, 2020August 23, 2020

WONDER WOMAN 1984 [DC FanDome]: Rob vs. Rob!!!

So first off, DC Fandome is coming off a bazillion times better than Comic-Con@Home, so far. This is what I was hoping SDCC would be like. DC/WB put money into their panels and you can see that shine through in their presentation. Kicking everything off was the Wonder Woman 1984 panel and — while it might not be everything it could have been if they had been in person — it was still “not bad”.

I wish that the moderators would have asked better questions. After seeing Yvette Nicole Brown so brilliantly moderate The Sandman panel, I’m a little more annoyed here and the fans they picked could have asked better questions other than “what was your most fun moment?” I get that people like to ask those types, but everyone asks that. Think of something different to ask, nerds.

Patty Jenkins and all the stars were on board and that actually does bring something more to these panels. When you have one/third of the stars there, it shows that they weren’t really 100% on board, but seeing everyone there is nice and refreshing. Also, seeing Kristen Wiig fangirl over original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter was adorable and completely refreshing.

NOW! The new trailer was insane and amazing and every bit of the word ‘ON FIRE’. We finally got to see our first looks of the aforementioned Wiig’s Cheetah and Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord and Cheetah just looks like everything a fanboy/girl could dream of. She looks vicious and fast and someone that can go toe-to-toe with Diana Prince. Cheetah is a character that, when done wrong, could come across as goofy, but done right could/will be amazing. After the first Wonder Woman flick, I trust Patty Jenkins 100%. She shows that you can have an amazing action film and still inject humor at the right moments.

Panel = 3/5
Trailer = 5/5

Overall Presentation = 4/5 Bibles

-Robert Bexar

So… the WW84 DC Fandome Panel was too dang sugary and fake for my tastes. I had to wait through 20-minutes of artificial “I love you’s” and Gal Gadot’s and Chris Pine’s Zoolander esque persona’s to finally get a Cheetah reveal. Yup. I was present for Kristen Wiig and she looked like she was tolerating the panel and putting on face throughout the panel.

I’m pleased with the second Cheetah look but the CGI looks a little less terrible than Aries in the first movie but at least they stay true to the look. Thank you to GodHatesGeeks and DC Fandome for those lost 2O-minutes. I do love that Viola Davis is hosting this event since she is Amanda Waller of the Suicide Squad.

Panel = 1.5/5
Trailer = 3/5

Overall Presentation = 2.25/5 Bibles

-Rob Deep Maldonado

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018

VITA AYALA [NYCC 2018 Exclusive Interview]: From ‘The Wilds’ to ‘Livewire’.

“Reverend Jog” Alex P.SO Ampadu
@itspsonow

ALEX AMPADU: How were you first introduced into reading comics?

VITA AYALA (@definitelyvita): I grew up in New York City on the Lower East Side. When I was six or seven my mom, being a single mother, would take us to this little Korean Bodega. The Bodega had a spinner rack full of comics. We were in there one day and there were two Comics that immediately caught my eye. One of them was a very shiny X-Men comic with Bishop on it, and I was like “there’s a black dude!”

ALEX: Bishop with the mullet?

VITA: Jheri curl Bishop! My man. I like him bald too. Wonder Woman was the other comic [and] immediately caught my eye because I thought she was Puerto Rican. I’m Puerto Rican and she looked like one of my cousins and I was like, “I want to read this book!” That started my love affair with comics. That Christmas my parents got me an Arabian Nights Fisher Price comic that came with a cassette that would read you all of the words. Oddly brown, right? Arabian Nights had all these stories about brown people and I was obsessed with it. That was my introduction to narrative storytelling. Brown people were my introduction to comics.

ALEX: Excellent origin story. You’ve written many titles. Which one most conveys the message that is important to you as a writer?

VITA: That’s hard. It’s gonna sound like I’m cheating, but I don’t think there’s anything that I’ve written that doesn’t have a thesis statement to it. For example, I wrote a 10-page Wonder Woman story that was part of the annual that came out before the movie. In it, I got to talk about how we demonize people who look different. That story is as important to me as my creator-owned stuff like The Wilds, where I get to talk about how we exploit black women and how that’s not OK. Everything that I write has something to say in it. I prefer longer form, and with something like The Wilds I had five issues to fully unpack what I had to say. I think as a writer if I can’t do that in 10 pages then I have to restructure. I do love everything i’ve written in terms of being able to say what I want to say.

ALEX: You’ve worked on Batman Beyond. Your books, The Wilds and Submerged have post-apocalyptic themes to them. What interests you most about post apocalyptic fiction? Do you think you’d be interested in exploring themes of Afrofuturism?

VITA: What I find most interesting about post-apocalyptic fiction is that the stakes are already so high no matter what you do the drama is already there. Everything you have to say is heightened. All of the danger is already built in, you don’t have to create it. What you really have to worry about is the characters. Another one of the things that interests me about post-apocalyptic fiction especially from the Brown perspective is that if we [brown people] are the ones creating it, then we really get to see something new. There’s still not enough stories from our perspective being told by us. I like the chance to explore things that you think you’ve seen before but when you see it from our perspective, you’ll see something new.

I love Afrofuturism. Cyberpunk is my second favorite genre of all time, I’m obsessed. I’m constantly working on that kind of stuff in my head. I have many ideas for Cyberpunk stories, many of which I need to start pitching soon. I love the crime noir aspect but the aesthetic and the style… it came from us. We have a lot of flair and a lot of style and I think we need more of it.

ALEX: Amanda is in a dark place after the events of Harbinger Wars 2. She was forced to make decisions that some would consider to be villainous. She’s slowly becoming more like Toyo Harada, her former mentor she swore to oppose. How does this influence the direction of the new Livewire series?

VITA: What we wanted to do with the new series that I’m working on with Raul [Allen] and Patricia [Martin] is take her to a place where she understands the darker consequences of her actions, acknowledges them and moves on. To me, what makes the clear distinction between Amanda and Toyo is that Toyo believes in culling the herd for a better tomorrow while Amanda just believes in survival. She wants people to leave Psiots alone but she has no interest in hurting other people, but she will fight you if you put her into a corner. Her actions were born out of that [mentality]. That team, [Matt Kindt and Tomas Giorello’s on Harbinger Wars 2] did a great job of setting up why [Amanda] did what she did in the moment. Because it was a reactive action, she didn’t think all of those consequences through. Through Harbinger Wars 2, they do a good job at keeping her in the moment so she doesn’t have time to stop and acknowledge that people got hurt. Our series is the redemptive story. It’s not about redeeming her necessarily in the eyes of the public but about bringing her internally to a place where she can work towards [her personal] redemption.

ALEX: Raul Allen and Patricia Martin did an amazing job illustrating Amanda in the Secret Weapons series. I especially like the way her hair is styled. Many people of color have strong connections to their hair, natural styles in particular. [Vita fluffs her natural hair] How important is Amanda’s hair to you?

VITA: Incredibly. Their [Eric Heisserer, Patricia Martin and Raul Allen work on the Secret Weapons limited series] doing something with her hair where they upstyle it which I really love. They are so good at portraying her hair. There are other characters of color in the book and I’m really excited to see how they deal with the hair. When I look at a book I low-key think to myself “can you draw black people? Can you draw natural hair?” Their attention to detail is truly incredible. From the clothes to the hair. When I heard who the team [for Livewire] was, I breathed a sigh of relief and then I started freaking out because they’re so good! It’s important to them as well to portray someone who seems real.

ALEX: Ninjak and Livewire have a very interesting relationship. They seem like two star crossed lovers who are always trying to run away from their passion for each other. Are you going to explore Livewire’s relationship with Ninjak?

VITA: No. For the first arc especially, it’s about her [Livewire] rebuilding herself. Before we can tackle how she feels about such a strong relationship that isn’t her kids [the Psiots] we really have to build up who she is and let her explore what she’s done.

ALEX: The Valiant universe has a vast array of characters. Many of them are very unique with various origins and abilities. Which character are you most excited about interacting with Amanda? (which other characters in the Valiant universe would you like to explore?)

VITA: I would love to write any one and one interaction with [Amanda]. I love Quantum & Woody and Archer & Armstrong, it would be interesting for her to interact with those characters to bring out her fun side. She’s always at 11 and is hyper-aware that she is fighting for her people so interacting with someone who is very light-hearted would be fun.

ALEX: I have a couple of quick-fire questions for you:

-Vampires or Werewolves?

VITA: Werewolf! Do you see my hair? [chuckles] I’m very feral. I think they both have a place in terms of their allegory. Vampires are very much about the monster within that we fear but are still attracted to. Werewolves are about the part of ourselves that we’re trying to keep in and repress, but if we accept it would be a lot more peaceful. I can’t choose, I’m a big horror fan!

-If time travel were real and you could only travel in one direction, would you travel to the future or the past?

VITA: The future! I’m black, what are you crazy? I would maybe go back to the height of the Harlem Renaissance for a quick minute. Just to be there and hug everyone then I would leave. It’s rough out there! I want to see Afrofuturism. I want to see what happens when we get our chance.

-Michael Jackson or Prince?

VITA: Why are doing this to me?! I love them both. This is hard. I realized things about myself listening to Prince that we’re very deeply personal so I will always go purple. But I acknowledge the king [Michael Jackson].

ALEX: That wraps it up. Thank you so much!

-Alex Ampadu

July 31, 2018

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK / MR. AND MRS. X / TEEN TITANS / INFINITY WARS PRIME [Fistful of Comics]: Bone Parish.

James Tynion IV seems to do no wrong, and he proves it once again (with caveats!) with this new iteration of Justice League Dark. Featuring the magical, mystical side of the DC universe, we start off with Wonder Woman trying to gather together a new JLD to counter an enigmatic new threat. From the first scene –wherein Zatanna’s spells backfire on her, unleashing themselves on an unsuspecting crowd — to the return of Detective Chimp (of who, truth be told, I cannot get enough), and the sheer ludicrousness of Man-Bat walking around with a human body and giant bat head, this issue is a blast (and any excuse to read even a single panel of my favorite fictional character, Constantine, immediately makes my monthly pull-list).

Aside from the usual magical hijinks, this issue allows a lot of room for the characters to breathe. Still reeling from the events of the Dark Nights Metal crossover, Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp get pensive, and allow some introspection…something I wasn’t quite expecting in a first issue. Another pleasant surprise was the full-on body horror in the latter half of the issue, with Dr. Kirk Langstrom performing autopsies on some horribly disfigured corpses…only for them to reanimate themselves. The art by Raul Fernandez, and Alvaro Martinez, really comes into its own here: prior to this sequence there was little to stick out, but my God, can they ramp up the horror when the story needs.

On the flipside, the usually reliable Tynion seems to be retreading a plotline that I’d read about 2 years ago in the pages of Doctor Strange: some mysterious force is threatening to wipe out the forces, and practitioners, of magic (thus prompting the reformation of the JLD). Hopefully –and most likely– Tynion has got something else up his sleeve, but even though the smaller character moments are delightful, the overarching story…if it is what it seems to be…will be a road well trodden. Hopefully next issue will provide a better, clearer picture of where we’re going with this. 3.75/5 Bibles.

-J.L. Caraballo

After being proverbially duped with the “wedding of the century” i nthe form of the Colossus/Kitty Pryde wedding, we did get another wedding we’ve been waiting for… the wedding of Gambit and Rogue! While it wasn’t the wedding we were looking for, it was a nice little fake out. Writer Kelly Thompson does a fantastic job with the characters; she makes you really feel the love between the two characters.The ending to the issue raises a few eyebrows, but will it be enough to keep readers around?… that’s another question entirely.

The art by Oscar Bazaldua and Frank D’armata is really, really well-done. Bazaldua has a Jim Chueng quality to his artwork: it’s crisp and clear, and D’armata’s coloring is just as vibrant. Whether or not this series last will really lean on Thompson’s writing. She can do it, let’s just see if people cling on. But she did get the sour taste of misdirection out of my mouth. Hopefully the follow-up issues will even out what little unpleasantness that fake-out rendered…and hopefully, again, some of the readers will stick it out long enough to see this arc through to the end. 3.5/5 Bibles

-Robert Bexar

What happens when you make Damien Wayne the new leader of Teen Titans? Teen Titans Go! Dark Edition! Seriously, who thought it was ok to ever put this kid in a Robin costume?! Damien decides he wants to reassemble the Teen Titans, but in a different way: mostly just ignoring anything the adults have to say and doing his own thing. He isn’t even telling Batman that he made this team. Damien is tired of waiting for the bad guys to make the first move, and knows Daddy won’t approve of his new methods. His team isn’t exactly the family friendly edition we’re used to, either. We get Red Arrow (the ex-assassin), Crush (Lobo’s daughter), Djinn (a 4,000 year old genie), Kid Flash, and newbie to it all, Roundhouse. This issue is mostly Damien going around convincing everyone to join him and fighting Brother Blood.

There’s lots of action and a little humor in Adam Glass‘s writing. I really enjoy the way Bernard Chang (artist) and Marcelo Maiolo (colorist) use an old tube TV look for the flashbacks of Damien gathering his team. I really can’t wait to find out how the Bat’s and Superman take it when they find out Robin is taking the Titans in a darker, grittier direction! 5/5 Bibles

Jimmy Cupps

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans at night

Give you the eternal life of the vampyre

Make you my unliving wife

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans at light

-Old Creole Lullaby, early 18^th Century

Down in tha New Orleans wetlandz, tha spookz alwaze flutter unda blood moon’s risin’ up tha Bone Parish way; and ole dirty-leg Dante’s gunna Fatlip-Tuesday yer infernal blowholez into Ashy Larry’s Wednesday, wit dis new “designer” bone drug he’s plastic baggyin’ all over Bourbon Street bayou for you, and you, and you…

Ya gotta go “Big Easy” tha first time ya do The Ash, or you’ll find sum voodoo chile drownin’ thru yer gumbobowlingballgameshowhostesscupcakewalker. Dontcha worry none, though, cuz ya down French Quarter’s way and witch doctor’s chickenfoot necklace gunna ward dem evil spirits right off of ya fo now…

While Dante’s gotcha dopeslitz packin’, his boy Brae’s out witda Bone Collectin’ Crew, diggin’ up more Ashy Larrys for Dr. Brigitte to Frankenskeet with, down in her lab below Lady Grace’s family compound. Big Andre, witda demon-eyed cornrows, carries round his diabolical musclemadness in the backshadows ready to strike, just so long as Lady Grace keeps breathin’ in tha corpse dustbin to keep him corporeal…

Lady Grace and her Children wanna maintain their gravedust bizness in tha family way, but city-slickified-three-piece-shyster Mr. Lamont and his back-east-coast Big Pharma Thug associates, have other plans for drawing-and-quartering up those marketplacecardholdings…

Once ya nosecandycane all tha pain away witda dead $ellebrity dirt memories they’re sellin, ya gunna feel yer nasal BOOM Studiholez open up ya mindframework!!! 4.75/5 Marching Corpse Powder Kegs

-Jason Bud

With Infinity War still fresh in readers minds, Marvel launches their next big story with Infinity Wars Prime. If you’re an avid reader like myself than you’ve painstakingly drudged through the slop that has been the Infinity Countdown stories. Except for a few noteworthy passes of literature, the storyline so far has went from bad to absurd, and that continues with Prime. Besides one surprising moment at the end of the issue, when newly minted super villain Requiem picks up where Chris Hemsworth lacked, this Prime’d issue could of fallen with the Countdown wastes.

Gerry Duggan’s work on this issue is somewhat helped by his use of the Mad Titans narration throughout the end of the issue. The writer had the legendary villain narrate his own final words and has him critique his own death. If only more of the issue was written as well. As we all know, this death won’t last longer than a Spider-Man story arc! But Dugan still packs a punch allowing Requiem to make his or her mark in the MU! Who is Requiem though? This may be the only reason to continue reading Marvels new Big storyline. 2.5/5 According to James Gunn.

Of course, there is more to this issue than Thanos’ death. Loki is convinced that he’s being pranked on a cosmic level. He learns that he must go to the God Quarry to unravel the mystery. This narrative thread could still become quite entertaining. But it paled in comparison to the impact of Thanos’ death.

Infinity Wars #1 drops on August 1, so readers won’t have to wait long to gain a clearer understanding of where Marvel’s next big cosmic adventure is going.

-Lance Paul