The Dark Knight Reviewed

Caution: Two Spoilers Ahead...

Okay so this isn't a comic book reviewed, but rather a DC character.

Batman, portrayed by Christian Bale is at it again, as the best Batman on silver screen in this latest installment of the Batman movie series. This has got to be the most impressive Batman movie that I have ever seen. Everyone's acting was suberb and the late Heath Ledger stole the show with his portrayal of the maniacal Joker. Aaron Eckhart as the Harvey Dent was superb. Also there was indeed fine acting by returnees Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Rachel Dawes in this movie, replacing Katie Holmes who played the character in Batman Begins.

Although Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in the Batman film by Tim Burton back in 1989 was great the character was not played as so maniacal and sadistic as Ledger portray's him. In my opinion Ledger is the dark Joker of the comic books, the one that provides Batman a truly worthy adversary.

The only fault that I have with the movie is one that I have with most comic based movies. That is that many times continuity, that is origin stories and certain other aspects of a character are changed from the comic to the big screen. In The Dark Night the Joker apparently didn't fall into a vat of acid as he did in the comics. Thus in this recent movie he paints his face white with makeup and apparently uses lipstick to cover the scars surrounding his lips.

In this movie, Harvey Dent becomes Two Face not by having acid thrown in his face in a courtroom as in the comic book but rather by gasoline or oil that was covering one side of his face ignite after an explosion.

Other than those two origin stories straying from the comic books this has got to be my favorite superhero movie of all time, even beating the recent Iron Man that I felt was spectacular.

Rann-Thanagarian War

It's issue number three of this series and I can't say that I am impressed or disappointed. Neither actually. It is one of those series that you enjoy because it brings several characters together to face what seem to be multiple threats. On a scale of one to ten for the storyline I would only give it about a 7.5 because many of the characters used seem to have little personalities in my opinion.

Sure some of them have personality development within the last few months but these have always been second string characters in my opinion except maybe for those who have had their own books such as Hawkman, Adam Strange (sort of), and Animal Man.

Anyway we now have threats on three fronts. Throneworld, Rann and Hardcore station. Prince Gavin is desperately heading back to Throneworld after his ship on a scouting mission was destroyed along with it's crew. At Hardcore Station things are getting bad as the majority of our heroes find the populace under the control of alien beings belonging to the Eternal Light Corporation. And back on Rann, Hawkman is attacked by the Rannians being driven by the mad rantings of Sardath. Does Hawkman survive, what about the fate of Throneworld, and what about our heroes on Hardcore Station. The story continues in the next issue, no wait, in Hawkman Special #1.

Batman kidnapped by Granny Goodness

(this is a review with spoilers from issue 2 of Final Crisis)

This just in... late breaking news. Veteran crime fighter Batman has been kidnapped by the resurrected Granny Goodness of Apokolips. Goodness like the other evil Gods of Apokolips under the leadership of Darkseid, were all presumed dead after the destruction of Apokolips.

Granny, evidently possessed Alpha Lantern Kraken of the Green Lantern Corps, and during an autopsy of the New God Orion at the JLA headquarters captured Batman while they were together examining Orion.

In other news it has been reported that Mr. Miracle Shilo Norman was seen in Japan recruiting new heroes to battle what he referred to as the evil beings who won a cosmic battle.

This 2nd issue of Final Crisis ties in well with issue number one of Final Crisis as well as Countdown to Final Crisis. It also has characters brought in from the Grant Morrison's recent Seven Soldiers of Victory with this issue featuring Shilo Norman.

The artwork is of high quality with great coloring. The darker colors used in the backgrounds help set the mood for the evil forces plotting throughout this mini-series. Although being chased by Death in the form of the Black Racer this issue does feature Barry "The Flash" Allen at the very end of the issue. There are also scenes featuring Superman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and Lantern John Stewart, as well as the new Question, Rene Montoya.

This issue did not feature the Monitors or any verbal reference that I can remember concerning the Multiverse. However, I did see Kamandi being held in a cage by certain evil Gods near the end of this issue.

What's going to happen next? To find out stay tuned and don't miss the next issue of Final Crisis.

DC Universe Special 1 - July 08

It's been almost two years since I updated this blog and I just wanted to let you know that if all goes right I will be updating it more often.

Currently I am reading DC Universe Special 1 - July 08 which chronicles the Justice Leagues early adventures that pitted them against Libra during 1974 and 1979 and the Human Flame in 1959 (not to be confused with Marvel's hero the Human Torch). Both Libra and the Human Flame will from what I understand play a major part in the soon to be unveiled Final Crisis mini-series.

Shadowpact 1 - Review

This review contains several spoilers. Read on at your own risk.

This is a new DC Comic book spinning out of the Infinite Crisis series Day of Vengeance. It features a group of lesser known heroes all with ties to the magical community of the DC Universe. These heroes include Nightshade, Nightmaster, Detective Chimp, Enchantress, Blue Devil and Ragman. Numerous guest stars abound in this issue such as Superman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, the Phantom Stranger and Rex the Wonder Dog.

In this first issue of this new series Superman finds a barrier which is enclosing a small town called Riverrock Wyoming. No matter how hard he tries to penetrate the barrier he can't. He calls for assistance from Green Lantern Hal Jordan, but even together they can't penetrate the barrier. They determine that the barrier is magic and suddenly the Phantom Stranger appears and confirms this. It is also discovered that the barrier is not only magical in nature but is also composed of blood.

The Phantom Stranger contacts the individual members of the Shadowpact and tells all that he can temporarily create a portal inside the barrier. Superman offers to go but the Phantom Stranger tells him in no uncertain terms, no way. It is the Shadowpact that must enter in order to contend with whatever magical menace is on the other side of the barrier. But are they prepared for what will happen inside the enclosed barrier? It's up to you to read and to find out.

The end of this issue ends a year later than when the storyline started with the Phantom Stranger meeting outside of the barrier with a character named Valda and Rex the Wonder Dog, who are standing guard to see if the barrier comes down and the Shadowpact reappears. Inside the barrier the group seems unaware of the amount of time that has passed and is about to meet the beginnings of their first battle with the sinister group that has enslaved Riverrock.

The storyline in my opinion is excellent. The art is a bit simplistic in my opinion and could well be used in an animated television series. However, I have high hopes for this series and I think the storylines will win out against other issues. The art thing is of course my own opinion and I can be easily swayed as each time I read the story I catch something new.

Technorati tags: superman, shadowpact, dc+comics, comic+books

Tags:

• superman
• shadowpact
• dccomics
• comics