Quick (Not) Review - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (SPOILERS)

It's been a week, but SPOILER ALERT anyway.

The 2013 reboot of Supeman on film, "Man of Steel," was financially successful enough to earn a sequel. But  that sequel was turned into much more: a hoped-for, full-fledged DC Comics movie universe, taking its place alongside the Marvel Movieverse. But many people had misgivings, seeing as how director Zack Snyder handled "Man of Steel." 

To jump-start the Justice League, in the quest for Avengers-sized box office, the decision was made to pair DC's two biggest icons for the first time. And have them fight. (Cliche alert.) And then throw in Wonder Woman, never before on the big screen. And add cameos of other heroes.  Thus, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was born. After seeing it twice in three days and digesting various opinions and reviews, as well as my own feelings on what Superman represents, here are some observations, in no particular order:

Warning: SPOILERS from here on out!

Quick Review: Green Lantern

I was worried about "Green Lantern," based on the DC Comics character. Face it, once you get past Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman you're dealing with DC's second string. And look at the trouble DC's parent company, Warner Bros., has had turning their properties into films. They had to go back to basics with the Batman films after what Joel Schumacher did to them (and struck gold, to be sure). Their first Superman franchise reboot took forever and was not as successful as they wanted, so now they're trying again with a different director, star, etc. And Wonder Woman's been stuck in movie and TV limbo. So a Green Lantern movie would have to be done right to cross over to the public at large. The box office may ultimately tell a different story, but for me, it wasn't a huge success.

Ryan Reynolds isn't terrible as Hal Jordan, the test pilot who is chosen to become the newest Green Lantern of Sector 2814 (that would be the one that includes Earth, of course) and receives the green ring that grants him superpowers. (And, as you can see, he's pretty, although he doesn't show much skin in this movie.) But the plot is splintered, veering between Hal's getting the ring and learning how to use it and meeting other members of the Green Lantern corps, and the threat of an entity known as Parallax (the essence of fear, which is represented by yellow, although the entity itself seems to be a smoke monster), and the relationship between Hal and Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), and then to Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), a scientist who gets a piece of Parallax inside him and mutates into a villain himself, although he doesn't do all that much, really -- the character and actor are both pretty much wasted here. And to explain the history and mythos of the Green Lanterns and the Guardians who created them, and how green is the color of willpower, able to confront fear, and so on, took a lot of narration. I didn't dislike this movie as much as others, but it's still a disappointment. My grade: C-plus.

My Week(s) In Comics 2-9-11, 2-16-11

I'm two weeks behind in this so I'm not going to write a lot about each of these. There are times when I feel like I'm not inspired enough and maybe I shouldn't bother writing about my weekly comic book haul. However, unlike many comics creators, publishers, fans, etc., I believe continuity is important. So, starting with the 9th:

Superman 708: Still not into this walking-across-America thing but developments here at least hint at a possible explanation for Superman's mental malaise. Plus he meets Wonder Woman for the first time (well, first time since her whole timeline was changed in her book so that she's not a famous hero and no one knows who she is).


DC Comics Presents: Superman - Sole Survivor 1: A reprint of four comic books in one issue, a couple of stories, from 1998 and 2001, that somehow I missed before. The second one was actually more interesting, telling the story of a scientist who, when his planet is about to explode, launches his only child into outer space to save his life. Krypton? No, in this story it's Earth.

Victorian Undead II -- 4 (of 5): Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, part four. Unlike last issue, lots of action. No actual appearance by Dracula, though. Unfortunately, he's in Buckingham Palace.

As for the 16th...

Videos: Wonder Woman, Darren Criss

Thought I'd share a couple of videos. They can't be any more different, but both are worth watching.

The first is from Funny or Die. "A Date with Diana" completely besmirches the good name and reputation of Wonder Woman, and is hysterical. It was written and directed by Matthew Cole Weiss, who works on the TMZ television show. (I have to admit I'm a little smitten, seeing him on the show every night.)

A Date with Diana from Maggie Lawson

The other is a Rolling Stone interview with the adorable Darren Criss (pictured above), who plays Blaine on "Glee." He answers everything in song, playing his guitar.

My Week In Comics 7-8-10

Now that I've educated y'all about the Rawhide Kid, I can make a confession. I actually bought issue one of the new miniseries the last Wednesday of June, and not as part of this week's purchase. I just wanted to hold off on discussing it until I wrote the Flashback post, and as it turned out issue 2 hit the stores. In another time-shifting move, the other book I bought was actually released a week ago. You may have heard a little something about it...

Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven 1 and 2 (of 4): It's more of the same -- perhaps the gay angle is a little toned down, but it's still there. (It's still got a "Parental Advisory" label on it, but it's in a much smaller font.) The Kid rides into Tombstone looking for the sheriff, Wyatt Earp, and his brother Morgan, only to find them gone and none other than Annie Oakley locked up in a cell. She informs him that Cristo Pike, brother of the outlaw the Kid handled in "Slap Leather," has managed to capture the Earps and is holding them in a stockade at Fort Pecos, with plans to hang them. In issue 2 the Kid and Annie arrive in Deadwood to assemble a team of gunslingers to rescue the Earps from Pike's army, including Doc Holliday, who's dating Annie. By the end of the issue the team is at six, so we know there will be one more addition.

Wonder Woman 600: This was out last week and I didn't plan to buy it, but then changed my mind a week later. There's an introduction written by Lynda Carter, a number of pinup pages, and some stories (one featuring a team-up of a ton of female heroes, one with Power Girl and one with Superman) that are fitting for a milestone issue. It ends with a prolouge to the new direction of the series. Oh, and there's that costume change that shook the world. I don't get the jacket, but other than that I don't dislike the new costume. I just don't think it was necessary to change her outfit that much. Considering the apparent cause of the change, it may not even be permanent. Something happened to change the time stream, and as a result there's a new history: Paradise Island was destroyed, Diana's mother and most of the other Amazons were killed and the infant Diana was whisked away secretly to save her so that one day she would grow up and be able to set things right. By the end of this story arc will there be other changes to her life story and/or continuity in general? Who knows?