19
May
This article is part of our Collector’s Digest series powered by: For over 80 years, trading cards have been an essential part of collectors’ lives. Whether baseball cards or Garbage Pail Kids, the card collecting bug bites early and often. This seems doubly true when it comes to cards inspired by the beloved heroes and villains of DC and Marvel Comics, who have been the subject of countless non-sport lines across the decades. These companies (and their independent peers) have released comic book characters into the pop culture landscape who have impacted our lives in ways that cultural anthropologists are…
11
May
This Batwoman article contains spoilers through Season 2, Episode 13. Batwoman Season 2, Episode 13 Last week, Batwoman left Alice to fend for herself against the False Faces, after the two formed a temporary alliance to rescue Angelique and Ocean from the masked gang. Ryan’s choice not to help Alice escape Circe’s clutches may have been jarring for some, but Alice has always been a sore spot, and their brief ceasefires are always punctuated by reminders of who Alice is and what she’s done. Ryan may not take revenge herself, but she’s not going to lift a hand to save…
10
May
DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration, is a timely new anthology showcasing DC’s Asian superheroes. Arriving in May for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it presents many of the top Asian storytellers of comics. Included in the 100 page commemorative anthology is an original 12-page story by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. “The Monkey Prince Hates Superheroes” introduces a new DC superhero who teams up with Shazam to battle Doctor Sivana and a Chinese deer demon. Monkey Prince references the 16th century Chinese classic, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en. It is the story…
07
May
This article is presented by: Superheroes have a long history. After flying onto the scene more than eight decades ago, led by Superman, along with fellow octogenarians Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America, the pantheon of capes-and-tights characters has expanded to include countless more. And as legendary creators made their mark across decades, the origins and powers of these icons transformed almost as frequently as their costumes. Meanwhile, the superhero team The Union, from the comic book saga Jupiter’s Legacy, have 90 years of consistent fictional history, with a singular overarching story, envisioned by one man: Mark Millar. After discovering…
06
May
Unlike other film and TV shows in the superhero genre, Amazon’s Invincible holds nothing back in reminding us the violence of superhuman battles. “Amazon’s Invincible follows The Boys in being a dark, bloody story of superheroes in a more ‘realistic’ way. Based on the Image Comics series by Robert Kirkman, the animated series follows the coming of age of superhero Mark Grayson/Invincible, a Viltrumite and first-born son of Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man, the most powerful person on the planet.” Read more at The Mary Sue. Sony recently announced a new partnership with messaging platform Discord. Here’s what that could mean for the…
12
Apr
This Batwoman article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 10. The latest episode of Batwoman, “Time Off For Good Behavior,” continues this season’s trend of examining Gotham’s authoritative structures from new angles and through different lenses. Ryan Wilder is the product of a system that not only did not protect her but actively worked to ensure that she and other kids like her did not escape the cycles of poverty and violence that trap them in lives of criminality. Ryan was adopted out of foster care in her late teens, which saved her, but didn’t spare her from being preyed…
09
Apr
Netflix and Ben Falcone’s new movie, Thunder Force, is a comedy obsessed with superpowers. Octavia Spencer wants them, Melissa McCarthy stumbles into them, and a supremely bored looking Bobby Cannavale flaunts them. Everyone gets a power. Yet Thunder Force’s real gift isn’t those CGI tricks; it’s that like a humor-vampire, it can drain all the spark, charm, and wit from its talented cast, leaving behind the soulless carcass we have before us. Greenlit by Netflix before the pandemic, Thunder Force is the exact kind of half-hearted laugher (read: with no actual laughs) that’s become Adam Sandler’s bread and butter on…
05
Apr
This article contains no spoilers and is based on the first two episodes of Birdgirl. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was one of the five original series to debut back on Adult Swim when the programming block was first created. The network has evolved in considerable ways since its inception, but even back then Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was an important series that helped establish the acerbic and dadaist style of humor that continues to define Adult Swim to this day. Now, 20 years after the premiere of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Adult Swim as a whole,…
20
Feb
An important aspect of any comic adaptation endeavor, and one often left unexplored by the PG-13 and TV-14 variants, is the physics of super-powered individuals. It’s nice to know that there are superheroes out there who can save the world by throwing a punch. But sometimes TV series and movies like to spare us the absolute bloody carnage that can occur on the other end of those punches. Amazon Prime’s Garth Ennis adaptation The Boys, however, is all too happy to show us the real consequences of superpowers. The show is positively filled with exploding heads, torn-out spinal columns, and…
15
Dec
“Greatness is not what you think,” Robin Wright’s warrior leader Antiope tells the young Diana Prince (Lilly Aspell) at the start of Wonder Woman 1984 during a sequence depicting something akin to the Themysciran Olympic Games. “Pace yourself and watch.” It’s an electric opening which sees a stadium full of women cheering the acrobatics of the island’s finest as they shoot, dive, leap, swing, and ride their way through a complex course to well-earned victory. The first superhero movie to be released during the pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 has had to overcome obstacles of its own – primarily its release…
09
Oct
Robert Kirkman’s other monster creator-owned comic series, Invincible, is coming to streaming, and the show might be closer to arriving than we thought. They just dropped a trailer at New York Comic Con’s pandemic stand in, Metaverse. It looks surprisingly faithful to the book, and if Kirkman’s promise at the panel holds, we should be in for some intense superhero action. The trailer has about what you’d expect in it. Mark Grayson, played by The Walking Dead‘s Steven Yuen, is a fairly typical 17 year old, except for the fact that his father (JK Simmons) is the most powerful superhero…
01
Oct
Black, the comic sensation that depicts a world where only Black people have superpowers, that started as a thoroughly supported Kickstarter and grew into a franchise, just took another step closer to jumping mediums. Studio 8, the entertainment company developing the film version of the comic, announced that Black has been picked up by Warner Bros. The critically acclaimed comic was created by Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3, with interior art from Jamal Igle, and striking, iconic covers from Khary Randolph, and edited by Sarah Litt. And in a fun surprise, the movie script was written by Bryan Edward…
25
Aug
“What are you?” It’s a question posed to any self-respecting Batman in his first movie, and it’s one that always gets the same answer. “I’m Batman.” That’s the iconic bit Michael Keaton whispered in Batman (1989), and Christian Bale growled in Batman Begins (2005), each arriving in a movie that stunned audiences in its day. Yet those moments seem like child’s play when compared to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, a film that, despite only being 25 percent filmed, shocked fans during this weekend’s DC FanDome. When Robert Pattinson’s Batman is asked “what the hell are you supposed to be?” he…
22
Aug
Fans got to meet Javicia Leslie at DC Fandome’s BAWSE: Females of Color Within the DC Universe panel, where she and other Actresses of Color in the DC universe talk about their roles. Leslie will star as Ryan Wilder, an original character who takes on the titular role of Batwoman in the show’s upcoming second season. Ryan Wilder is described as: Likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the Batsuit before her. With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging…
11
Aug
When Project Power premieres on Netflix on Friday, August 14, it will showcase not only the acting prowess of star actors Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in its story about a city uprooted by a new drug that gives anyone superpowers. It will also introduce viewers to the storytelling of Mattson Tomlin, who is poised to become the next big sci-fi action screenwriter with three upcoming comic book adaptations, including co-writing credit on 2021’s The Batman with director Matt Reeves. Tomlin spoke to us about this first film, which sprung from his own ideas about powers. The most unique aspect…
10
Aug
Back in the late 1990s, things didn’t look so hot for superhero movies. Warner Bros. Pictures crashed its Batman franchise into the ground with 1997’s disastrous Batman and Robin and showed no signs of resurrecting either that or any of its other DC comics heroes. Meanwhile, with the one bright exception of 1998’s Blade, not a single Marvel Comics character had made it to the big screen in a meaningful way. All that changed, however, in 2000, when 20th Century Fox released X-Men. Based on one of Marvel’s most enduring properties, the Bryan Singer-directed film introduced the concept of mutants…
05
Aug
There was a moment while playing the Marvel’s Avengers early access beta on the PlayStation 4 when I had to ask myself whether this slice of the game was the best way to showcase what was supposed to be a major spectacle for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Following two of the biggest movies of all time, Marvel’s Avengers should feel like a victory lap for Square Enix and a grand return to video games for the superhero team. Instead, the beta showcases a low-key affair that never quite feels all that fresh or unique. While the combat, traversal, and all of…
27
Mar
The DC Extended Universe is in full swing! With a healthy schedule of upcoming DC movies in development, the DCEU isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s still lots to look forward to. So, it’s time to take a look at all of the DCEU superhero movies that will be released over the next few years. And trust us, there are a ton of them on the way, and we expect more details will be announced as we go forward. We have all the release dates for every one of ’em right here, as well as official details, the most interesting…
18
Mar
In what is becoming a familiar refrain after Universal Pictures opened the floodgates on Monday, a relatively popular new release is heading directly to video-on-demand as the coronavirus crisis worsens. This time it is Vin Diesel’s superhero actioner, Bloodshot, that is breaking through the theatrical window like some kind of cybernetic super soldier. Sony and Columbia Pictures’ Bloodshot, which debuted in third place at the box office this past weekend, will make its VOD debut on March 24. This very reasonable move is being made after the film already suffered from the historically low moviegoing attendance of the past week.…
