Comics Roundup for 10/24/12

Captain America #19 - Ed Brubaker goes out on a high note, and it's good to see that Marvel hooked him up with Steve Epting for his final issue, considering that was the artist when he started his rather lengthy run with the character.  It's too bad to see Brubaker go, but it's time.  While the series certainly wasn't bad, it wasn't quite as much of a "must read" as it was for the first several years.  It's time for a change of direction, and so far I'm interested in what incoming writer Rick Remender has planned for Cap.

Basically, this issue gets to the heart of everything that makes the character special, and it touches on some unfinished business as we revisit the Captain America of the 1950s.  You know, the one who goes nuts.  Basically by the end, Steve Rogers comes to grips with the fact that Captain America will outlive him, but it's up to him to remain that symbol for as long as he can.  I have a hard time seeing anybody else doing the well-worn "somebody else is Cap" storyline after this.

Batman, Incorporated #4 - More Grant Morrison nuttiness, and it seems like Jason Todd is up for redemption in this series.

A vs. X:  Consequences #3 - Another good issue that sets up some pretty interesting ideas for the future.  The only thing that bugs me is Iron Man's issue with "faith".  He wants to understand The Phoenix from a scientific standpoint, but he's being told that it's not science.  The thing is, skepticism and science don't really make sense in a fictional world where magic exists.  It's not like the real world, because things that are magical actually have verifiable, empirical results in the world of comics.  If the Phoenix really existed and did what it did, then it could be studied through science.

The Avengers #32 - So they get Steve Epting to see Ed Brubaker off, but they get some absolute crap artist for Brian Michael Bendis's final arc on The Avengers?  Anyway, I like the story, and I like the way they're bringing the Wasp back.  Plus, I should mention that one of the two artists on the book is doing a decent job, but this seems like a pretty lame way to send off the man who's basically been driving Marvel's flagship book for so long now.

The Amazing Spider-Man #696 - The Hobgoblins face off and I'm happy.  Too bad the art, while certainly not awful, wasn't better.

Punisher War Zone #1 (of 5) - Haven't read a Punisher book in some time, but it's interesting to see the Avengers finally take an interest in taking down Frank Castle.  The character always works best when it's understood that he most absolutely is not a good guy.

Comics Roundup for 10/17/12

This is actually for last week as well, so I'm gonna keep them brief:

Batman and Robin #13 - Surprised that this isn't tying in to "Death of the Family", yet it somewhat touched on that story.  Nothing too special here, but an entertaining read like always.

Batman #13 - The "Death of the Family" story is only getting started.  So far, it seems pretty good.  It's probably not easy to do a Joker story that feels original.  I have to wonder whose idea it was to have his face cut off in the first place, but since it happened in another book, I'm thinking it wasn't Scott Snyder's.  Nice to see him making good use of that though.

Uncanny Avengers #1 - Wasn't too sure what to expect, but I really liked this one.  It had the right combination of drama, action, character interaction, and nutty comic book villainy to get my interest.  I think that this book definitely has some potential.

The Secret Service #4 - It's strange that no matter how much stuff I'm reading, I'm always able to follow along with Mark Millar's comics without having to review the rest of the series.  Good story, good characters, yet again.

Captain America #18 - I'm hoping that Ed Brubaker's final issue doesn't feel quite so perfunctory as his penultimate issue.  Nothing wrong with this one, but nothing too spectacular either.

The Phantom Stranger #1 - I didn't like this one as much as the zero issue, and considering I can barely remember what happened, this is probably it for me.

AvX Consequences #1 & #2 - I thought that the first issue was just a one-shot for some reason, but I didn't mind picking up the second issue as the story was compelling enough.  There's definitely a lot of fallout from this last crossover, so it's nice to see it getting some space here.

The Avengers #31 - Brian Michael Bendis begins his final story with this issue.  He seems to be setting up something big here, and it's good to see him dealing with some leftover plot threads from issues past.

Avenging Spider-Man #13 - Another fun issue with Deadpool, and it's cool to see Spider-Man get the better of him.

Wolverine and the X-Men #18 - I really liked this one a lot.  The new Hellfire Club is a pretty good new set of villains, and I'm worried that this is the end of Broo, one of my favorite characters from this book.

Hawkeye #3 - Well crap, this book is so much better than it has any right to be.  It's a great combination of art, story, and character, and I'll be back for more so long as this team is in place.

Wonder Woman #13 - I thought we'd see Orion by now?  We get a guest artist here, but it's still really good stuff.  It was the first one that I read, and that's saying something.

Daredevil #19 - I don't understand why The Spot was considered to be a lame villain for so long.  Seems like a pretty cool power to have, and no doubt it would make him formidable.  I guess that Mark Waid gets that, and we get something really cool at the end of this issue.

The New Avengers #31 - And so begins the final run for Bendis on this series as well.  I was a bit more intrigued by this one, but I've always enjoyed this series a bit more.  I think it's fitting that when Bendis leaves, so does Luke Cage, and it seems like the new New Avengers will be an entirely different sort of a book.

Batwoman #13 - The book I want to love, but I just can't.  As always, the art is gorgeous, but the prose is so ponderous and annoying.  JH Williams comes up with some interesting layouts, but it's like he throws in text just to fill the space, and not because it moves the story forward.  I think that I'm done here.

Avengers Assemble #8 - Speaking of being done, I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series after this issue. I'll flip through the new creative team's first issue and pick it up if it looks interesting.  Anyway, this series has had a few high points, but overall it's a bit "meh" and only set up things for the new Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Justice League #13 - I'm done here, too.  I didn't even finish reading this one.  The initial story was pretty fun, but I just don't think that Geoff Johns has anything all that interesting to say with this concept.  You know it's bad when my favorite issue of this title was the one that put the backup story as the main story.

Comics Roundup for 10/3/12

Avengers vs. X-Men #12 - Now that it's all over, I'd say that this has been a decent, but not great, crossover.  The things that held it back from being great include the fact that the art has been inconsistent, with good artists turning in sub-par work (like Adam Kubert in this issue), and the fact that it was dragged out for far too long.  The good thing is that it wasn't just a rehash of Civil War.  That series tore the Marvel Universe in two.  This one actually brings it all together.  Still, I have to wonder why they're suddenly going to have a lot more mutants in the MU again.  Wasn't narrowing the number of mutants one of the "fixes" of Joe Quesada's reign as Editor in Chief?  Why turn that around?  Seemed like a good plan to me.

Detective Comics #13 - Thought I'd give the new creative team a chance with this one.  I liked the artwork, and the story was decent.  I'll get at least another issue, but I wasn't overly impressed.

Green Lantern #13 - Another interesting installment of an entertaining series.  The Justice League gets involved with the new GL by the end of the issue, so I'm looking forward to the next one.

The Amazing Spider-Man #695 - The Hobgoblin versus Hobgoblin saga finally gets started, but it only barely gets started.  Boo.  Other than that, not a bad issue.

Talon #0 - Spinning out of the "Court of Owls" story in Batman, we learn about a Talon who got away from the Court.  Interesting enough, at least to check out the next issue.  And is it just me, or is Guillem March channeling Joe Kubert?

Comics Roundup for 9/26/12

The Amazing Spider-Man #694 - The internets is all a buzzin' about how horrible this "Alpha" story is.  Once again, I find myself liking a Spider-Man story that's hated by fans all over.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't love it, but it has been a perfectly serviceable story, and it has the potential to be revisited and get more interesting.  It seems to me that a lot of the complaints are based on the fact that Alpha is such an unlikeable character.  Umm...isn't that kinda the point?  He's the opposite of Peter Parker.  He's not good at heart, and he didn't have a "great responsibility" moment.  Anyway, I'm more excited that the real Hobgoblin is back next issue though.

Winter Soldier #11 - Honestly, I don't remember Hawkeye being in the last issue.  Guess I'll have to read some of the back issues.  Even with that in mind, I still was entertained by all of this spy stuff.  Too bad that it's all ending soon.  Well, at least Edward Brubaker's writing of the title, anyway.

Wolverine and the X-Men #17 - I've mentioned before how this book defies expectations.  If you're looking for something darker, well, you just ain't gonna find it.  Who knew that Wolverine could lend himself to stories that are just plain fun?  And while I don't know much about this Doop character, but I was pretty amused by his inclusion in this issue.  Oh, and getting Mike Allred to draw this issue was a definite plus.

Aquaman #0 - I sure hope that whomever they get to write this title after Geoff Johns leaves will be able to pick up the ball and continue with a lot of these big ideas that continue to be introduced.  With this issue, we get some of Arthur's past, and I think that it could be explored even more.

Batman Incorporated #0 - Let's ignore the fact that this title doesn't make much sense in the current continuity.  Aside from that, it's a pretty fun and wacky title, although I feel like Grant Morrison has covered some of this ground already.

Hit Girl #3 - Some more fun Mark Millar stuff.  I like his books, but I hate writing about them because I just don't have much to say.

CalShakes - Hamlet - Too Much in the Sun

My first year teaching seniors, I had a class that was filled with a few particularly negative nellies.  Upon finishing Hamlet, I had to hear how it was "pointless".  I was also informed by one particularly bright individual that even he could "write a story where everybody dies in the end".  Now, I didn't think that there was something wrong with the writing of William Shakespeare.  I'm the kind of person who blames himself for everything, so my assumption was that I must have somehow did something wrong.

Imagine my surprise at the end of the year when I asked the class to write down what their favorite things we did all year.  More than half the class picked Hamlet and if you counted Macbeth, the works of William Shakespeare counted for about 2/3 of what my students liked best.  I'm on my 9th year teaching seniors, and this is a pretty standard result.  Even last year, when I had a lot of kids not like much of anything, the enthusiasm for Hamlet was noticeable.  Basically the lesson I learned is to never listen to the one or two kids who think that their opinions represent the class as a whole.

Anyway, over the years I have found myself liking the play more and more, and while it doesn't strike me in quite such a personal way as Cyrano de Bergerac does, it definitely is something that provokes an emotional reaction out of me.  I've written my thoughts on various movie versions, but I have never had a chance to see the play live.  That's why I was especially excited about the last play for the CalShakes season when my wife bought us the tickets.

I'll start off with my biggest complaint.  It was frikken' hot, and I felt like I should have brought a change of shirt with me.  Where we were sitting, the sun was blaring right down on us for about 2/3 of the play.  My body tends to have only two settings when it comes to sweat, and those are "not at all" and "full blast".  So, I was slightly distracted by the heat which threatened to dry up my brains.

My second complaint is that the stage decoration made no sense.  It was a swimming pool that looked like the water had been drained from it months ago.  This really distracted Kirsti.  I got over it pretty quickly.  I know the play pretty well by now, but I don't even have a good guess as to why they may have gone for this.    It just strikes me as being random.  I completely understand why everything is dingy.  That makes sense, as while Denmark is "rotten", everybody (but Hamlet) pretends like everything is just fine and dandy.  But a swimming pool?  If anybody out there can figure it out, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Aside from that, the play was pretty good.  LeRoy McClain did a good job as the title character, which is pretty important.  One thing that I've always found important with the character is that you need an actor who can show a range of emotions.  It's not just important that you have a guy who can brood, but you need somebody who can elicit some genuine laughter during the scenes with Polonius.  McClain did a pretty good job of that.  I probably didn't like him as much as I liked the David Tennant in the BBC version, but he held my attention just fine.  Oh, I do think that he goofed up a line though, as he said "Farewell dear father" to Claudius when it's supposed to be "dear mother".  The joke afterward doesn't make much sense if you don't get that bit right.

The rest of the cast was pretty good as well.  Two standouts are Zainab Jah as Ophelia and Dan Hiatt as both Polonius and the Gravedigger.  With Polonius, he didn't go the doddering, senile old man route.  Instead he went with the full-of-his-own importance interpretation.  One part that I found amusing was when he was giving his long preamble about Hamlet's madness.  He was searching for a phrase (I believe it was "outward flourishes").  He had his hand out to the audience like was looking for help in finding the right word.  I didn't shout it out, but I bet that my lips probably moved as I certainly wanted to feed him the line.

As for the overall direction, I thought that they made some good choices.  A lot was cut out, including the whole Fortinbras subplot, but that's to be expected unless you want to sit there for another hour.  Aside from that, I like that they had Hamlet do the "To be or not to be" speech not as a soliloquy but as him talking to Ophelia.  That's a nice touch, and it makes her fate make more sense.  Also, usually Hamlet is speaking to Laertes when he says "What is the reason that you use me thus?  I loved you ever."  I think it's pretty clear that's what Shakespeare intended, because the line starts with "Hear you, sir".  However, in this version, Hamlet jumps into the grave with Ophelia and says it to her, sans the "sir" part.  I liked that, and it adds to the idea that one of Hamlet's problems might be that he's a bit self-absorbed.

Other than that, I only caught some minor changes, like changing words for clarity.  For instance "bodkin" became "dagger" and "fardel" became "burden" in the "To be or not to be" speech.

Overall, I had a good time, and it really went by rather quickly.  I hope to see another production or two of this play before I shuffle off this mortal coil, as it's always great when something so familiar can continue to surprise you.

Comics Roundup for 9/19/12

Justice League #0 - No Justice League in this one, as the Captain Marvel backup feature takes center-stage and fills the entire issue.  If I really hated Captain Marvel, I might be upset.  I'm not really a fan, but I've really been enjoying the backups, so I had no problem.  I liked this one, and unlike Superman, who's been rebooted to death, I think that this retinkered origin works pretty well for the World's Mightiest Mortal.

Batwoman #0 - The art looks nice, like always, but I couldn't even finish reading this one.  Exposition... weighing... me... down... Ugh.  Seriously, is there anything worse than a comic where the entire thing is told in the style of a plot summary?

Daredevil #18 - Oh yeah, Daredevil had a wife.  Nice to see that she's not entirely forgotten.  Plus, the mystery of who's trying to make Matt Murdock out to be a nutcase deepens.  Fun stuff, like usual.  The art's pretty good as well.

Wonder Woman #0 - Great stuff, like usual.  Brian Azarello takes a bit of an old-school approach with the narration, but this feels much more modern than a Silver Age story.  Revamping Diana's story was probably one of the best things to come out of this entire "New 52" and I hope that this origin sticks for a while.

Spider-Men #5 (of 5) - I've actually read the first trade of the new Ultimate Comics:  Spider-Man since reading the last issue, so I'm a little bit more invested in the Miles Morales character.  I've decided that I really like him, and I think that this series was a great way to establish that he's a legitimate addition to the mythology.  I also like the fact that the door is completely sealed, and there are ways that this series will continue to impact the lives of both Spider-Men.

The Avengers #30 - Walt Simonson's definitely bringing his A-game to this series with this issue.  I don't know how the heck it's an AvX crossover, but it was still enjoyable.  Basically we get Hawkeye and Spider-Woman teaming up and bickering about their relationship.  It could have been lame, but I was entertained.

(Judge) Dredd

The original plan for the day was to go see Hamlet at CalShakes.  That plan fell through though when my wife realized that the tickets are actually for next weekend.  So, instead of that story about the Denmark's rottenness, the wifey and I saw a movie about the rottenness of Mega City One.  That's right, we went and saw Dredd.  (And no, not in 3D.)  It's somewhat fitting, because the character of Dredd is a lot like Hamlet in the sense that he's about as opposite of Hamlet as a character can possibly be.  While the prince is indecisive, the judge is always certain of exactly what he's doing.

I'm not the world's biggest Judge Dredd fan, but I've read a fair amount of comics.  I read the DC Comics series that came out some time ago.  I also read a lot of reprints of stories from 2000 A.D. when they were reprinted by Eagle Comics.  So, while not the biggest fan, I've got some drokkin' credentials.

I remember being enthusiastic about the Stallone film when it came out.  I remember liking it okay, but I also remember being disappointed that they didn't quite seem to get the spirit of the comic in the movie.  But hey, that was the same year that Batman Forever came out, so standards were pretty low.  There certainly were some things in there from the comics.  There was Mega City One.  There was the Cursed Earth.  There were traces of the nuttiness and over-the-top characters from the comics.  (The Mean Machine was in it, after all!)  I think that I saw it again on TV some time later, and it seemed worse than I had remembered it.

So, I was excited for the new film, especially when I heard that they got one important detail correct - DREDD NEVER TAKES OFF HIS HELMET.  That sounds like a small thing to non-fans, I'm sure, but it's just one of those things that helps to define the character.  One of the negative reviews that I read of the film complained about the "lack of character development".  Well, yeah, if you give Dredd too much character development, then you've somehow screwed him up as far as I'm concerned.  Keeping that mask on helps to symbolize his rigid, unyielding devotion to the law.

So, what about the new movie?  Did they get it right?  Well, for the most part, yes.  Dredd was most definitely Dredd.  He doesn't crack jokes, and when he says something funny, he's not trying to be funny.  He's unstoppable.  He's uncorruptable.  He's THE LAW.  Also, it was nice to see Judge Anderson, the psychic judge, play the role of the rookie.  She was there so the audience could have somebody with whom to identify.

Now, it's been a while, but I remember the comics as sometimes focusing heavily on satire and sometimes being downright kooky.  There was absolutely no trace of that whatsoever.  Basically, this film took all the dark elements of the comic and focused solely on that.  I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that they didn't even toss in a "Drokk!" or a "Stomm!" or even a "Grudd!" anywhere in there, instead just sticking with curse words that people actually use in the real world.  But still, it felt like Mega City One, just a no-holds barred, R-rated version of it that the comics only hinted at.

As for the story, it almost felt more like an episode of a TV series, and not even the pilot episode.  I thought that was an interesting approach.  It gave just enough information for the audience to follow along, and then it jumped into really minimalist story focusing on Dredd and Anderson fighting their way through a ridiculously high building in order to get to the drug dealer at the top.

So, this is hardly high-art, and it doesn't transcend the genre like Christopher Nolan's Batman films.  It's probably not even as good a film as a Judge Dredd film can possibly be.  However, it's entertaining as hell - provided that you can handle some pretty gruesome violence.  (My wife said that she felt like throwing up quite a few times.)  It also gives the audience a completely uncompromising vision.  The makers of this film knew exactly what they wanted to make, and they got it.  There's no forced love story.  There's no moment where you discover that deep down inside, Dredd's just a big softie.  There's no sense that Mega City is going to be a better place and the future's only going to get better.  All you know is that Dredd took down another perp, and he's probably going to have to do the same thing again tomorrow.