Category Archives: Comics

August 12, 2012

TMNT Classic Collection

By Joe

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics are here!

I’ve been out of the toy collecting game for several years now.  I used to enjoy it as a hobby and it was a nice way to link my childhood to my adult life as I pursued action figures of characters I loved as a kid.  It became a compulsion eventually.  I started off just buying the characters I was particularly fond of like Venom and Iceman, but once it became a full-fledged hobby I was suddenly finding myself scouring department store toy aisles six at a time looking for an obscure Man-Thing or Warbird.  That’s when it became about the hunt.  Tracking down the exclusive Wal-Mart wave of Marvel Legends was especially thrilling.  It seems silly in hindsight, but it was kind of addicting.  Eventually though the quality of the figures declined and I also ran out of room for all of these toys.

I got a little taste of that rush today when I tracked down a set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics.  It was a pretty easy hunt as I found a full set at the first place I went to, but I can’t deny it was a lot of fun.  The wondering, the hoping they’d be there.  I credit my interest in the line to my love for the TMNT as a kid and the new collections put out by IDW Publishing of the old books.  I’m currently onto volume 3, expect a review once I finish it.

The reverse side of the packaging.

I’ve talked about it many times, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but I did love the TMNT as a kid and they still hold a soft spot in my heart.  One of my last toy-related purchases before today was for a set of the turtles puts out by NECA.  I dubbed them my all time favorite as they’re a wonderful representation of the turtles as they appeared in the pages of Mirage Studios brand comic books back in the 80’s.  These collections, plus a new line of comics launched by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, have helped to contribute to a renaissance for the turtles that will soon culminate in a new television show aimed at kids on the Nickelodeon network.  To capitalize on this, and the original cartoon’s coming 25th anniversary, Playmates has launched a new line of toys aimed at those who fell in love with the turtles through the toys and cartoon back in 1988.

This new line, appropriately titled TMNT Classics, was first shown last February at the New York Toy Fair and has recently hit shelves in speciality shops and big box stores like Toys R’ Us.  The packaging on these new turtles states that they’re based on the look of the turtles from the old cartoon, but it would be more appropriate to say they’re combination of that look along with the style of the old toys.  Back in the 80’s, kid’s shows were basically extended commercials for toy lines and the turtles were no exception.  The toys were developed alongside the show and since Playmates only had concept art to go off of they ended up having their own look.  Each turtles had his own unique skin-tone and all sported solid, white eyes.  It was basically a hybrid of the comic look and the one the cartoon would go with.  These new toys sport the rounded features of the cartoon along with pupils in their eyes but retain their unique skin-tones, though they’ve been changed some.  Raphael has a darker green complexion while Don isn’t as brown as he used to be.  Donatello and Leonardo also retain their shoulder straps and each turtle, excepting Donatello, has wraps around the handles of their respective weapons featuring their trademark color (Raph’s sais are red, Leo’s katana handles are blue, etc).  It’s an interesting approach though I do kind of find myself wishing that Playmates just went all out in trying to make these turtles television accurate.  We already have comic accurate turtles, and the 2003 toy line paid homage to the original toy line, but we’ve never had cartoon accurate turtles.  Yes there was a wave of Toon Turtles in the 90’s but they were pretty crappy looking.

Group shot! Notice how some of the pupils are oddly placed.

Even though they’re not entirely cartoon accurate, these turtles are pretty nice to look at.  They’re loaded with articulation but their features are more reminiscent of the TMNT movie line of figures than the NECA one.  NECA went through the trouble of trying to hide the articulation but Playmates didn’t see need to, so while a lot of poses are possible, the numerous holes and joints do detract from the look of the figures.  And if the joints aren’t tight, it really hinders the amount of poses one can achieve.  My Raph has pretty loose leg joints which makes standing him a chore.  The hands on all of them are particularly combative as each features articulated fingers and thumb.  The finger piece on the left hand of my Leo figure even fell off in the packaging.  They can never get a good, solid grip on their weapons and the hands on all four definitely feel fragile.  There’s also an abdominal joint in each turtle that’s kind of odd.  The show’s animators definitely did take liberties in how the turtles could bend and move in those shells but I’m not sure the abdominal joint adds much.  Playmates at least had the foresight to only insert the joint in the front and not the rear of the shell, which would have looked horrible.

I’m pretty disappointed with Mike’s face sculpt. It just doesn’t suit the character.

Scultp wise, all four turtles are the same with the exception of a unique head sculpt.  The head sculpts are a call back to the original toy line as each turtle features the same or similar expression he had back in 1988.  This means they all look angry and I kind of wish they had gone with less intense expressions.  Leonardo should probably be grim and serious, but Raph and Mike definitely shouldn’t be.  The figures are tall, around six inches, so they don’t fit in with any other TMNT toy line.  They’re not too stocky looking either, and their proportions do remind me a bit of the movie line for the TMNT film.  They have kind of odd looking forearms and really long arms in relation to their legs.  Overall though, the sculpt is pretty solid for each turtle and they look good side by side though I really do wish Mike had a better face sculpt.

As far as accessories go, these are pretty bare-boned.  While the original toy line came with a bunch of ninja stars and other oddities, these turtles only come with their trademark weapons and Don only comes with one bo staff.  Each turtle also comes with a personalized manhole cover stand and their belts can hold their weapons easily.  Some toon specific items would have been fun like a mouser or turtle-com, but oh well.  The quality of the weapons is pretty standard, though Playmates did go above and beyond with Mike and gave him actual chains on his nunchaku which is a nice addition.  I never want to see another Mike action figure that doesn’t feature this.

NECA Don with TMNT Classics Don.

The paint job for each turtle is solid, though not very demanding.  Playmates opted for colored plastic for most of the parts with the paint only really coming into play with the bandanas, eyes, and teeth.  In the case of the eyes, it leaves something to be desired.  The rounded shape of each turtle’s head makes it difficult to paint on pupils that appear to be focusing on the same spot.  As a result, both my Don and Mike almost look like they have a lazy eye.  This has convinced some collectors to just paint over the pupils on their figures and go with the classic all white look.  From what I’ve seen, this actually looks pretty good but does take away from the cartoon look.  I’m not one to modify my toys anyways.

So did Playmates deliver with their classic TMNT line?  Mostly.  These are the most cartoon accurate turtles to date and they feature a lot of articulation which will allow fans to pose them in almost any position they can dream up, provided the joints are tight enough.  Even though they are the most cartoon accurate figures of the turtles to date, they’re still not the definitive take on the source material and the copious amounts of articulation does take away from the look a bit.  They’re also light on accessories which is hard to take considering these are the most expensive turtle figures I’ve ever bought.  I paid 20 bucks a turtle at a specialty shop, though the MSRP is said to be $18.  That’s still a lot of money for an action figure that’s pretty basic but hardcore fans will probably pay it.  I’ll have a hard time finding display space for these guys, but the nostalgic factor alone makes me mostly happy with my purchase.  They don’t top what NECA did with the turtles a few years ago, but they’re pretty damn good in their own right.  If you’re the sort of fan that’s really in love with the TMNT, then these figures are for you.

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July 22, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

By Joe

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I mentioned in my look at Batman’s best films that I had gone into total lockdown mode for The Dark Knight Rises.  I got off of social media, stayed away from review sites, and just basically blocked the world out where Batman was concerned.  I wanted to walk into this film with an unformed opinion.  I wanted to be outside the hype.  The first two Christopher Nolan directed Batman films are fantastic.  That’s not to say they are instantly in the running for best movies ever, but in the world of entertainment (and comic book adaptations especially) they are certainly worthy of the highest praise.  The hype surrounding The Dark Knight was intense, and the film actually lived up to it.  I assumed the hype could only grow louder for the trilogy’s conclusion.

It’s a poorly kept secret in Hollywood that trilogies often end badly.  I won’t cite examples as I don’t want to distract from the review of this film, but I’m sure most people reading this can think of at least one trilogy that lost a lot of luster in the third and final act.  And I don’t consider this a spoiler since it’s been stated numerous times by both Nolan and Batman himself, Christian Bale, that this is it for the two of them where Batman is concerned.  And since it was reportedly never a sure thing that Nolan would even return for a third film I’m going to take the both of them at their word.  Warner Bros. may back a truckload of money up to both of their doorsteps but I think this is it.  And if you’re a concerned fan fearing that Batman may end up like Spider-Man (there I go, making an example), worry not:  The Dark Knight Rises delivers.

If you’re concerned about spoilers, this is a spoiler-free review.  Basically all of mine are, even for films that are over ten years old.  With that said, I’m going to talk about the plot to some degree and anything in the trailers or that is considered common knowledge (basically anything I knew going in) is on the table.  If you want as pure an experience as possible though, I do recommend doing what I did and avoid all reviews until after you’ve seen it.  If you’re a Batman fan or just a fan of either of the other two films, you should definitely see this.

Easily the most iconic image of Bane from the “Knightfall” arc.

The movie starts out in a similar manner to The Dark Knight; by introducing the main antagonist for the film.  In this case we have Bane, played by Tom Hardy.  For those of you unfamiliar with Bane, you don’t need to know anything about him going in.  For those who do, know that this is a much better incarnation than what was presented in Batman & Robin, though I imagine that goes without saying.  Many writers of comics, television, and even video games have often chosen to focus on the brawn that is Bane.  That’s to be expected as Bane first and foremost exists as a physical threat to Batman.  He is someone Batman can’t simply engage in a one on one fight and expect to beat, unlike most of his rogue’s gallery.  However, Bane has a tactical side to his character which makes him especially deadly.  The film wishes to display Bane in that light, though don’t worry, he still possesses impressive brute strength.  The character was introduced in the “Knightfall” story arc from the 90’s, which makes Bane a rather recent addition to Batman’s rogue’s gallery when compared with others.  Some of that persona is adapted here, and some of the plot from that arc is as well, which kind of surprised me though I suppose it shouldn’t have.

In the comics Bane is a big guy made bigger when he pumps a fictional type of steroid into his noggin called venom.  In this film there is no such serum and the many tubes going into the character’s head are not needed.  He does sport a mask, though it looks more like a gas mask than the luchador style one he wears in the comics.  The mask does serve a purpose, though the film never makes it clear.  I assume he can survive without it since a guy’s got to eat.  There’s no way he can get a physique like that living off a liquid diet.  The mask necessitates his speech to be dubbed.  Early viewings of the initial teaser for the film left several fans complaining about how inaudible Bane’s speech was.  I assume Nolan wanted to go a realistic route with the character, but pressure from the audience did apparently bring about change.  He’s not always clear in the picture, but his voice is quite loud and almost jarringly so.  It reminds me of Shredder’s voice from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film.  It may not be realistic, but it beats the alternative.

In the trailers we are shown not just Bane, but Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) as well.  Her lines to Bruce Wayne at a costume ball recall some of the sentiments being thrown about in the Occupy Wall Street movement from last summer.  And yes, that is part of the film’s central plot, to a degree.

Campy? Perhaps, but given the source material I think they did all right.

After Bane is introduced in a most menacing fashion, we are taken back to Gotham where eight years have passed since the death of Harvey Dent.  Bruce Wayne has become a recluse and all of those years playing Batman have taken a toll as well.  The cast from the previous films is returned.  Gary Oldman is back as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Caine as Alfred.  Morgan Freeman is there as well and there’s a couple of new comers in officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard).  The three veterans of the films are just as good as always, with Caine especially being effective as Alfred.  I feared the Alfred character would get too preachy, and almost too omnipotent much like Rosemary Hariss’ Aunt May in the Spider-Man films, but my fears proved unfounded.  The new-comers serve a nice role with the Blake character mirroring Gordon’s from Batman Begins.

Tate is an ally to Bruce in his corporate life, which we soon learn is not going well.  With Gotham now at peace and organized crime all but exterminated, there’s no need for Batman so Wayne tried devoting all of his resources at Wayne Tech to making the world a better place.  In doing so he has stymied profits but Tate seems to share his outlook.  Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, makes her presence felt early on as well by swiping some jewelry from Wayne which gets her into the story.

I was on the fence about the Catwoman character being used here and thought the film may become too crowded, but again my fears are mostly unfounded.  While there are a couple of scenes between Batman and Catwoman that border on camp, the film soon remembers what it is and distances itself from any such thing.  In the comics, Catwoman is known for being a tweener in that she isn’t really a villain but isn’t necessarily a hero either.  In TDKR she’s played pretty much the same way.  Her character is definitely adapted in part from Frank Miller’s Year One arc, which was used as a basis for Batman Begins, minus the prostitution angle (which DC has always tried to distance itself from). Her character views herself as a sort of Robin Hood, though her motives are entirely selfish.  She gets herself mixed up with Bane, which is how she stays in the picture.  And her presence doesn’t crowd anything or take away from the film’s hero, Batman.  He’s in this one just the right amount, and his heroic appearances are staged exceptionally well.

Gordon-Levitt’s Blake is a welcomed addition to the cast.

The main plot for the film involves Bane trying to basically pick up where Ras al Ghul left off and bring down Gotham.  He infiltrates the corporate sector, the market, and even the physical infrastructure of Gotham itself (as evidenced in the trailer).  Make no mistake, he’s a real threat to the city in an even bigger way than Ras could have hoped to be and his motives and actions help tie the trilogy together.  A lot of TDKR harkens back to Batman Begins which helps maintain a feeling of continuity and in the end makes for a better pay-off for longtime fans.

That’s the film, in a nutshell, but how does it fare as entertainment and how does it stack up with the other two films in the trilogy?  To put it simply, The Dark Knight Rises is a hard film to watch.  I don’t say that because it’s long (approximately two hours and forty-five minutes) but because it’s pretty bleak.  For most of the film’s running time there’s not a lot of reason for optimism.  The Dark Knight was a pretty dreary movie at times, but even that had little moments of triumph throughout.  The Dark Knight Rises has fewer of those moments which make it one exhausting movie to watch.  I went back for seconds and thirds on The Dark Knight during it’s theatrical run, once is enough for me with this film (though I’ll definitely be a day one buyer when it hits stores).

Oh yeah, expect to see some new “toys.”

Don’t confuse my proclamation that this is a hard film to watch as a criticism.  Some films are truly brilliant but hard to sit thru.  Think Schindler’s List or Grave of the Fireflies, though certainly not on that scale.  There is a real danger to this film.  I think part of it is born from knowing that this is the final film in this trilogy, and possibly this “universe,” which makes it feel like anything is fair game.  I would like to think though, that even without knowing that, I’d still feel the same unease I felt throughout this film.  Bane is a truly monstrous individual on a different level than The Joker.  That doesn’t make him better, just different.  Many were likely worried about how Nolan could possibly move on after The Joker but he found a way.  I found myself hating him and I really was hoping he’d get his due in the end, which is an emotion I never really felt towards The Joker.

The Dark Knight Rises is a very good film and quite exceptional, though it doesn’t top Batman Begins for sheer entertainment value and will probably wind up behind The Dark Knight for most.  There’s no shame in that and I feel quite confident in saying that Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy will go down as one of the all-time greats.  There’s certainly no comparison as far as comic book movies go, and I doubt it will ever be as beloved as the original Star Wars trilogy, but from start to finish this is the most consistent.  The films are connected not just by style and the names attached but in theme and narrative.  The Dark Knight Rises is a grueling experience at times, but is the pay-off the fans wanted.  I feel slightly stupid for even having my doubts about this one, but Christopher Nolan once again delivers a fantastic piece of art.  I will never doubt that man again.

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July 19, 2012

Batman’s Top 10 Feature Length Films

By Joe

No other super hero has taken to the big screen as well as The Dark Knight.

I didn’t do an official count, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that Batman has had more movies made featuring him than any other comic book superhero.  Over the years he’s been featured in both live action and animated films, wide release and direct to home video.  Some of these films have been among the handful of movies I’ve enjoyed above all others, while others have been truly dreadful.  When a character has been around as long as Batman, that’s bound to happen.  He’s not only had great and terrible films made about him, but he’s also had great comic book stories and poor ones, fantastic television moments and truly embarrassing ones.

Recently though, it’s been mostly good films that have found their way to audiences worldwide.  And I’m not just talking about the much praised Christopher Nolan directed projects, but also some of the smaller ones that never made it to theaters.  Today we are on the eve of the release for the third and final film in the Nolan trilogy.  You may have heard of it, it’s called The Dark Knight Rises and it figures to take in money hand over fist for the next several weeks and make the executives at Warner Bros. very happy, and even more wealthy than they already are.  It probably doesn’t even have to be a good movie for it to be a cash cow, just look at the much maligned Spider-Man 3, which made more money than either of its two superior predecessors.  Hype is a powerful thing.

As most are looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises I am looking back.  I started to reflect on the films that came before it to feature Batman and decided it would be fun to make a top 10 list.  For some only familiar with the live-action stuff, it may be surprising to know that there have been more than 10 Batman films made, but that man gets around.  Truth be told, there are even a couple I haven’t seen such as the Batman Vs Dracula one that was taken from the The Batman universe.  I just never got into that show as it was geared towards a younger audience but if someone thinks I’m really missing out on something special feel free to let me know in the comments section.  Otherwise, let’s take a look at number 10…

Batman: The Movie (1966)

10.  Batman:  The Movie

It was actually a tough call between this and Batman Forever.  Batman Forever tends to get lumped in with Batman & Robin since they both share the same director.  While Batman & Robin is one of the worst movies I’ve had the misfortune of seeing, Batman Forever is merely average.  It’s quite different in tone from the Burton directed pictures, and whether that’s a good thing or not is a matter of taste.  I’m not really a fan and I don’t think anyone who skips Batman Forever is really missing out, but it does contain an entertaining performance from Jim Carrey as The Riddler, even if he’s just playing the same screwball he was playing in every other movie at the time.

Batman The Movie, on the other hand, is a truly unique entry among the Batman films.  Based on the television series starring Adam West, it’s basically the definition of camp.  It exists purely to entertain movie-goers of all ages and never takes itself all that seriously (with the exception of Burt Ward’s rather intense portrayal of Robin, which is kind of an in-joke in and of itself).  For fans of the show, this was like the ultimate as the best of Batman’s rogue’s galleries team up to take down the caped crusader.  The plot is rather hokey, but the film isn’t short on laughs.  Fans who take their Batman stories very seriously probably find this one off-putting, but this was more or less Batman in the 1960’s.  The comics were geared towards six-year-olds and at least the television show made an attempt to appeal to adults as well which actually helped keep Batman relevant.  This one’s a guilty pleasure and is placed here for nostalgic value, if nothing else.

9. Batman:  Mystery of the Batwoman

Mystery of the Batwoman is the third feature length film based on Batman:  The Animated Series and the second that was direct-to-video.  It was the only one based on the relaunched version of the animated series which featured new character designs and improved animation.  I prefer the style of the first three seasons as opposed to this one, but it’s not too off-putting.  Mystery of the Batwoman is exactly what the title implies; a mystery story.  There’s a new vigilante in town and Batman has to deduce the identity of this female who has borrowed his image.  The film features a few “names” in prominent roles such as Kelly Ripa and Kyra Sedgwick while the usual cast is excellent, as always.  The villains featured in the film include The Penguin and Bane and this mysterious Batwoman apparently has a bone to pick with them, among others.  Not surprisingly, her methods are more ruthless than Batman’s which is what drives Batman to try and figure out her identity and put a stop to her activity.  The film’s mystery proves to be pretty satisfying, and as a whole it’s an entertaining story.  The minimalist production values tend to make it feel more like an extended episode of the show though which is why it doesn’t place higher.

I’m still amazed at how awesome (cool?) Bruce Timm and Co. were able to make Mr. Freeze.

8.  Batman & Mr. Freeze:  SubZero

SubZero is the second film based on The Animated Series and was the first to go direct-to-video.  Unlike Mystery of the Batwoman, it’s production values are more on par with Mask of the Phantasm, the only animated Batman film to receive a true theatrical release.  Mr. Freeze was a surprise star in the television show and it was clear that the writers really enjoyed working with him so it’s no surprise to see him receive the movie treatment.  As was the case in the excellent episode “Heart of Ice,” Freeze is driven to crime in an effort to save his beloved wife, Nora, whom he has cryogenically frozen until he can find a way to cure her of the illness that threatens her life.  Once again, the writing crew prove they’re up to the task of creating a worthwhile Mr. Freeze story but unfortunately the film sort of feels like an extended version of the “Heart of Ice” episode, and an inferior take.  Despite feeling like a retread, it’s still an engaging film and I’d love to see more from Freeze in a future feature film.

7. Batman Returns

Tim Burton’s Batman was a huge success with movie goers when it was released in 1989, so a sequel was pretty much a foregone conclusion.  Burton’s Batman brought the caped crusader back to his roots.  The work of writers such as Neal Adams started to bring some semblance of maturity back to the character in the 70’s, while the work of Frank Miller in the 80’s really drove it home.  This Batman, portrayed by popular comic actor Michael Keaton, was the strong silent type not interested in bantering with his foes.  The first film featured an iconic performance from Jack Nicholson as The Joker, and the feeling going into Returns must have been more is better as the sequel featured three prominent villains.  Fans were used to both The Penguin and Catwoman, but created for the film was Christopher Walken’s Max Shreck who is perhaps the film’s true villain.  In keeping with the style of the first film, both Catwoman and Penguin feature unique designs that represented quite the departure from what fans were used to.  Catwoman comes across as a cat-obsessed dominatrix while The Penguin is a truly hideous creature.

Perhaps Burton felt like the Batman character was explored and developed enough in the first film, because he’s kind of brushed aside here.  The focus of the film is placed squarely on the villains as we learn what brought them to this state.  Burton is also more comfortable here interjecting his brand of humor into the franchise, more so than he did with the first.  Both The Penguin and Catwoman are pretty ridiculous, but the film plays them straight.  It starts to fail though in the final act as even the most forgiving members of the audience will find it hard to accept an army of penguins packing serious heat.  DeVitio (who actually received an undeserved Razzie nomination) and Pfeiffer are both memorable in their roles, but even they can’t carry a Batman movie that’s light on Batman.  A fun, but ultimately flawed experience.

This one’s not for the kids.

6. Batman:  Under the Red Hood

I was pretty surprised to see Warner Bros. was releasing an animated Batman film that did not feature Kevin Conroy in the leading role, or would include The Joker but no Mark Hamill.  To me, so long as neither actor is demanding an absurd wage for their services, Conroy and Hamill should be the voice of Batman and Joker, respectively, until they can no longer do it.  That said, both Bruce Greenwood and John DiMaggio do an acceptable job as Batman and The Joker in Under the Red Hood, an animated film that adapts parts of popular comic plots such as “A Death in the Family,” “Hush,” and “Under the Hood.”

It’s that first story that attracted me to this direct-to-video feature and the one that made it most interesting.  For those not in the know, “A Death in the Family” is the iconic story where Robin is murdered by The Joker.  It was one of those rare stories where comics crossed over into the mainstream as it was a pretty big deal to see Robin go down.  Under the Red Hood starts off like a mystery, but it’s one that is solved almost immediately.  Batman and Nightwing (Neil Patrick Harris) both encounter the new vigilante/villain Red Hood and are unsure of his motives.  He appears to be positioning himself as an adversary for crime boss Black Mask, and doing a good job of it.  As I said, the mystery is revealed fairly early in the film, and the second act deals with Batman confronting this new foe.  The animation is fluid and quite enjoyable to behold, and the opening scene featuring the murder of Robin is appropriately disturbing and graphic.  The film’s signature scene though is not the death of the boy wonder, but the climax which features Batman, Red Hood, and The Joker in a memorable stand-off.  The true motivation for the Red Hood is revealed and it serves as a believable and some-what heartbreaking reveal.  It’s really that climax that pushes this one up to the position of number 6 on this list.

5. Batman Beyond:  The Return of the Joker

I’ve mentioned before how I wasn’t a believer when I first heard about Batman Beyond.  It seemed too gimmicky and totally unnecessary; a cheap way to go after the younger crowd.  Were there really no stories left to tell for Bruce Wayne?  I was proven wrong though and Batman Beyond, while not as good as the series it followed, proved to be a worthwhile entry into the Batman canon.  The Return of the Joker though, ended up being one of the best Batman stories every brought to animation which is something I don’t think anyone could have predicted.

One of Batman Beyond’s major weaknesses as a series was the absence the classic rogue’s gallery.  A few good villains would be created to battle this new Batman, and even Mr. Freeze would make an appearance, but few could hold a candle to some of Batman’s most memorable foes.  One who was missed perhaps the most was The Joker.  How can you have Batman without The Joker?  I think most fans suspected his presence would one day be felt, but as the actual Joker who terrorized Bruce Wayne’s Batman so long ago?  That seemed crazy, but The Return of the Joker proved it could be done.  Sure there was a sci-fi explanation for how The Joker could still be around and the film took some liberties in getting the audience to buy into the explanation, but at the end of the day, we were willing to believe anything if it meant the return of perhaps Batman’s greatest foe.  And this Joker, once again played by Mark Hamill, is an even darker take on the character.  He’s even more sadistic than before and kind of pissed off to boot.  The production values are no better than an episode of the television series, but no one cares when the plot is this well executed.  If I have one complaint with the film it’s that the final encounter between Batman and The Joker isn’t quite as satisfying as it probably should have been, but the film makes up for it by showing us the final confrontation between the original Batman and Joker which was just as excellent as it should have been.

Now there’s a dynamic duo.

4. Batman (1989)

I’ve already done a full review for this one, so I won’t get into too much detail here.  Simply stated, this was the film that proved Batman could be a box office juggernaut and appeal to both kids and adults.  Perhaps more so adults with this dark and gritty take on the caped crusader.  The choice of Michael Keaton as Batman was much maligned at the time, but he easily won crowds over.  The look of the film was particularly striking and would go on to influence The Animated Series in a major way.  Jack Nicholson’s Joker was so good that, as hard as it may be to believe now, many people felt like no one could ever come close to matching it.  This one may not hold up as well today when compared with the Nolan films, but this Batman is still pretty unique and the one most like the Dark Knight featured in Frank Miller’s work.

3. Batman:  Mask of the Phantasm

Last year I dubbed Mask of the Phantasm as the definitive take on the character to make it to film.  I also said that is not to be confused with best film to feature Batman.  Mask of the Phantasm, quite simply, fully captures the essence of the character in a way that not even Christopher Nolan’s works can match.  The film focuses on the early challenges faced by Bruce Wayne as he struggles with keeping to the promise he made to his deceased parents and the graveyard scene is the most memorable scene, for me, from any Batman film.  I love this movie, so much that I made a full entry on it last year shortly after my verdict on the definitive Batman film.  If you like Batman, you absolutely owe it to yourself to track this one down.

Well done, Mr. Ledger.

2. The Dark Knight

Considering the work done by the other directors and actors featured on this list, it’s pretty high praise to award the top two spots (yeah, that’s right, hope I didn’t ruin the surprise) to the team of Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale.  Of course, The Dark Knight owes a great deal of its success to the late Heath Ledger who’s turn as The Joker is already one of the most memorable performances in a comic book movie to date.  Batman Begins was a successful movie, but it wasn’t the massive hit The Dark Knight turned out to be.  A great deal of that probably is due to the aura the film garnered after Ledger’s demise and word of mouth of the actor’s fantastic performance.  It cannot be understated;  Heath Ledger’s Joker is phenomenol!

That said, The Dark Knight is not a perfect movie.  It’s certainly very good, excellent even, but Batman has seen better.  Part of that is due to the same thing that harmed Batman Returns, which is a de-emphasis of the Batman character.  Nolan explored Batman in great depth in Batman Begins, so he probably felt like that afforded him a lot of freedom with this picture.  Nolan also approached this one as a crime drama and often cited the popular heist film Heat when discussing the picture.  Batman still has a strong presence, as both himself and his alter ego Bruce Wayne, but the scenes with The Joker are just so good, so memorable, that they over-shadow the rest of the film.

I do find Bale’s performance to be noticeably worse in this one than the previous film.  Some of that is some quentionable dialogue in the script, but a big piece of it is the dreaded bat voice.  In Batman Begins, Bale uses a lower and slightly throaty voice when speaking as Batman.  In The Dark Knight, the voice is almost distorted and Batman sounds like he’s auditioning for a death metal band.  It doesn’t work, especially when Batman is asked to have full conversations with characters, and really detracts from many of the film’s most critical scenes.  I also feel like the Two-Face part of the story was rushed and the resolution still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Criticisms aside, you can’t be number 2 on this list and be a bad film.  The Dark Knight is an engrossing crime flick and is tremendously entertaining.  Its faults are forgivable, and its biggest fault is that it’s just not as good as the number one film on this list.

There’s just no topping this.

1. Batman Begins

When Christopher Nolan was brought on to reboot the Batman franchise many people had no idea what to expect.  Nolan, at that time, was best known for Memento, a really cool and engaging film but not one that could easily be applied to the Batman franchise.  The often rumored to be in development Batman 5 never got off the ground, and Warner Bros. wisely decided to distance itself from the catastrophe that was Batman & Robin.

A fresh start is really what the doctor ordered, and by doing so it gave Nolan a chance to do what no director had really done before:  tell a complete origin story.  Batman Begins is exactly what Batman needed.  The film goes into meticulous detail to explain to the audience how Batman came to be and what truly motivates him.  His morals and methods are fully defined for the first time and the film is focused fully on Batman with no villain to steal the spotlight.  Nolan’s universe is grounded and absent of most of the characters we’re used to seeing which gives the film it’s own sense of authenticity.  Christian Bale proves to be worthy of dawning the cape and cowl, but some of the supporting cast really steal the show.  Michael Caine is perfectly cast as Alfred, the closest thing to a maternal figure Bruce has, and Gary Oldman is easily my favorite actor to portray Jim Gordon.  Rachel Dawes, an assistant to Gotham’s D.A. and childhood friend to Bruce, is created to help the Bruce Wayne character feel more real.  Played by Katie Holmes, she’s a strong female type that actually works pretty well in that role.  My only major complaint with the film is when they try to force a romantic undertone to Rachel and Bruce’s relationship which just lacks any chemistry and feels unnecessary.

Batman Begins is the best Batman film created thus far.  It just hits all of the right notes and I still get chills when I watch the film’s final scene.  Will it remain the best?  As I sit and type this up we are just over 3 hours away from the release of The Dark Knight Rises.  I have intentionally avoided all press related to the film.  I do not know how it has been received by critics, I do not intend to speak to anyone tomorrow about it as I want to experience it in a pure way to form my own opinions. I’ve never taken a film this serious, and I’m not sure why I am now.  I think it’s because I just haven’t been excited by the few trailers I’ve seen or the concepts I’ve heard that the film is supposed to contain.  I fear I’m already approaching it with too much of an opinion, and I want to distance myself from that.  I have tickets to see it in IMAX this Sunday, and I’ll try to post a review that night for anyone who is interested.  Regardless, I fully expect this trilogy of Batman movies to be among the best trilogies comic book fans, or movie fans in general, have ever received.  I doubt very much it will top Batman Begins as a stand-alone experience, but so long as it’s on par that’s all anyone can ask for.

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May 27, 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection – Vol. 2

By Joe

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 2

There was a time in my life when I thought I was done with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  They had dominated my childhood, but come the early 90’s I had mostly moved on.  I still had a soft spot for them, but their cartoon had become too predictable, the toy lines too ridiculous, and I was already on to my next obsession.  When the television show moved to CBS’s new Saturday morning block the studio revamped it, giving it a darker look in an attempt to mature the series to better appeal to changing tastes.  It didn’t last long in this new format, and the Turtles began to fade away from the mainstream.  In 1997 Fox and Saban Entertainment brought the four-some back for a new live action show, possibly to try to appeal to fans of the Power Rangers, but the show only lasted one season and 26 episodes before being cancelled.

The Turtles mostly vanished from television after the cancellation of The Next Mutation.  It seemed like they were now destined to become just a memory of a silly era where anthropomorphic characters were all over the place in children’s programming.  Something people in the future would look back on and say, “What were they thinking?”  Then a funny thing happened, and the Turtles were suddenly relevant again.

It all started with Fox and 4Kids Entertainment revitalizing the franchise thru a new cartoon developed in collaboration with Peter Laird’s Mirage Studios (by this point in time, co-creator Kevin Eastman wasn’t involved with the TMNT) that premiered on Fox’s Saturday morning cartoon block in early 2003.  Simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this new series adapted the original Mirage comics more faithfully then its predecessors while still keeping the show appropriate for younger viewers.  The Turtles had an edgier appearance with blank eyes and a more lean appearance.  Each one had a personality mirroring the ones from the original comic.  Really, the only holdover from the wildly popular 80’s cartoon was the unique bandana color for each turtle.  At times, the show almost directly paralleled the old books before the creators started to branch out and do their own thing, but the show worked and the Turtles were once again relevant.  This helped get a new movie green-lit that was eventually released in 2007, titled TMNT, and has helped keep the franchise alive to this day.  Now the Turtles are owned by Nickelodeon with IDW handling the new comic book line.  A new show and a bunch of new toys (including these awesome retro themed ones) are slated for release later this year in addition to the ongoing comic run now headed by Eastman.  Along the way, IDW has chosen to give the old fans some new collections to thumb thru, and my old Turtle-fandom is back in full-force!

Michaelangelo’s solo issue, featuring the debut of Klunk the cat.

I already talked about IDW’s first release of collected works, and now I’m ready to talk about Volume 2.  Volume 2 is another high-quality release and contains issues 8-11 of the original run, plus the micro issue one-shots for Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo.  The cover contains new artwork done by Eastman, though it confusingly includes the Triceratons and Fugitioid who don’t appear in this collection, but looks nice.  The interior has been enhanced to a larger size, like the first volume, and is kept in its original black and white.  Each issue is followed by reflections from both Eastman and Laird.  For this collection, Laird has contributed more thoughts and it looks like he was a more active participant.  It’s particularly interesting to read the comments for the later issues when the two discuss their fraying relationship with each other.  Neither guy takes shots at one another, and both come across as sincere when they express their disappointment for how things turned out.

The issues covered by this collection essentially wrap-up the original run of the books.  After issue #11, more people were brought on board and Eastman and Laird didn’t really work together any longer.  The Turtles were also exploding on television and the first movie was in production for a 1990 release.  The issues bring the Turtles back to earth following their exploits in space, and outside of a couple of issues, the story-lines are more reality based this time around (when one ignores the fact that the protagonists are walking, talking, fighting turtles, of course).

The first few issues have a sort of one-shot feel to them as the plot-lines do not tie in with any of the previous narratives.  Issue #8 was a collaborative with Dave Sims’ Cerebus the Aardvark, a comic at the time Eastman was said to be particularly fond of.  It’s some wacky time-travel thing that sees the Turtles accidentally warped to Cerebus’s medieval setting where the two join forces.  There’s some decent humor here, but for someone who isn’t a fan of Cerebus, the cross-over appeal was lost on me and I was interested in getting back to the New York setting.  Issue #9 is a flash-back of one of the Turtles’ earliest outings that sees Splinter switch bodies with a dying master in Japan.  While still containing a supernatural element, I enjoyed this one more than issue #8 as it felt more like a traditional TMNT adventure and it was fun seeing the younger Turtles do their thing.  Design wise, Eastman and Laird gave the Turtles full bandanas that covered their heads which was kind of a cool look.

He’s back!

The micro series for Mike, Don, and Leo are interwoven throughout the collection.  Mike and Don’s are more of the one-shot variety, while Leo’s directly ties into the next arc for the comic.  In Mike’s, we get to see the youngest of the Turtles foil a robbery on Christmas and make a new friend out of a stray cat he dubs Klunk.  It’s a fun chance to see Mike go off on his own and adds depth to the character.  The issue would eventually be used as inspiration for an episode of the 2003 cartoon titled “The Christmas Aliens.”  Donatello’s one-shot, “Kirby and the Warp Crystal,” would also be adapted for the cartoon as “The King.”  This issue was Eastman and Laird’s tribute to the legendary Jack Kirby.  Initially, the two wanted to rasie money for Kirby who was in a legal battle with Marvel Comics over licensing fees.  In the old days, writers who worked for Marvel worked under a work-for-hire agreement and anything they created was the property of Marvel and Marvel alone, meaning they saw no royalties for other works using the characters they created.  Kirby and his family refused to take Eastman and Laird’s money, but the sentiment was likely still appreciated.  The story is kind of fun, and it’s obvious the two had great affection for Kirby’s work as his influence is all over the series.

The Leonardo one-shot is probably my favorite from this collection as it kicks off the plot that re-introduces The Shredder.  This book and the following ones would be adapted in part for the first film.  In Leo’s book, he gets attacked by the returning Foot clan and eventually overwhelmed (in the film, it’s Raphael in place of Leo).  The encounter spills over into April’s apartment as the issue ends with Leo crashing thru the window and warning his brothers that The Shredder is back.  The full-page illustration is one of my favorites from the series.

From here, the Turtles are attacked by the Foot and the action takes them into April’s antique shop.  When things are looking bad, Casey Jones shows up and aids in their escape but Shredder sees to it that April’s store (and home) is destroyed in the process.  From here, the story takes us to Northampton, Massachusetts where Casey’s grandmother has an old farm house.  Issue #11 is told mostly thru the eyes of April as she writes in her journal about how the Turtles cope with defeat and how she deals with the loss of her father’s antique shop.  I’ve been critical of Eastman and Laird’s writing in the past, but here they do a nice of job of presenting their theme for the story with care and levity, making this issue (and arc) their best yet.  The overall theme of issue #11 ends up being to appreciate what is most important in life, and not to place too much importance in material things.  The issue ends with the Turtles coming together as both April and the gang arrive at that same conclusion simultaneously.

Overall, I think I enjoyed Volume 2 more than I enjoyed Volume 1.  The writing is tighter and more focused, and the micro issues really do a good job of adding depth to the characters.  Eastman and Laird are also able to bring out the individual personalities for each turtle in the other issues as well, and they’ve all finally had their traits firmly established by the end of the collection.  I’m still a bit surprised that the Leo/Raph rivalry hasn’t been hinted at yet, though perhaps I’ve been misled and that is a dynamic that was added to the group by outside sources before Eastman and Laird considered exploring it.  It’s also a lot of fun seeing the stories for the first time that ended up making it into the movie I saw so long ago as a kid.  It makes me appreciate that film even more.  And while most of the books were lifted in a more thematic sense for the film, the scene where Don and Casey work on the old truck even had some of the dialogue lifted word for word.  Only in the comic it’s Raph in place of Don and some of the insults are different.  There is a sense of finality at the end of the collection, especially in the write-ups from Eastman and Laird, but a volume 3 is on the way that will cover issues #12, 14, 15, 17, and 19-21 which contains the “Return to New York” story-line.  Following that arc, Eastman and Laird had little direct involvement with the comics so it figures that volume 3 may be the last for the The Ultimate Collection.  It is possible a fourth volume could be produced covering the massive “City at War” arc that spanned 13 issues and was co-written by the original creators.  Volume 3 is currently due out in July, though don’t be surprised if it gets delayed as both of the previous collections were.  I’ve really enjoyed the fist two volumes, and already have volume 3 pre-ordered!  For longtime fans, I suggest you do the same.

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February 26, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man and Reboots

By Joe

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

There are two big superhero movies set to hit theaters this summer.  One, The Dark Knight Rises, figures to close out a trilogy that could go down as the best superhero trilogy ever conceived to this point (and one of the all-time best trilogies in general).  The other, The Amazing Spider-Man, hopes to launch a new franchise that could one day be among the best.  The two films are not very similar, but The Amazing Spider-Man hopes to do for Spider-Man what Batman Begins did for Batman.  That’s a tall order and complicating things is the fact that not a lot of time has elapsed between the original Spider-Man film franchise and this new one Sony is looking to start.

How much time needs to pass between two films based on the same property before a reboot can be introduced?  A reboot refers to a new beginning for a character.  The Amazing Spider-Man will ignore the three previous Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi.  When it hits theaters it will have been 5 years since Spider-Man 3 was in theaters.  For Batman Begins, 8 years had elapsed between that film and the most recent Batman film before it, Batman & Robin.  In the case of both, these new films are arriving after the last one was poorly received, though to different degrees.  Batman & Robin was panned by critics and filmgoers alike.  There is almost nothing positive that can be said about it.  It was the sequel to Batman Forever, a film that received a mixed reaction, and was also the fourth film in a line of movies but introduced its third actor to play the starring role.  There was little continuity in that series following Batman Returns and every film seemed to be worse than the one that preceded it.

For Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3 returned the same cast and crew as the previous two.  The first film was received warmly and accomplished what it set out to do, and the second was roundly praised as one of the best comic-to-film adaptations ever.  Spider-Man 3 had a lot to live up to, and though it was not as good as the first two, it actually has a “fresh” rating on rottentomatoes.com, albeit barely so.  It wasn’t a terrible film, but it was a mess of a movie that encountered numerous problems.

What the Hell were they thinking?

I’m not sure if it was the intention from the start, but it felt like going into Spider-Man 3 that this could be the endpoint for the Rami directed movies.  The third one rounds out a trilogy and there seems to be a natural tendency to view films within a franchise in groups of three.  I’m not sure why, but that tends to be the reality of things.  The main actors were originally signed for three films so a potential fourth one was likely to get expensive.  As such, both Raimi and Sony/Marvel tried to cram everything into Spider-Man 3 they ever wanted to address on film.  From the onset, Raimi and star Tobey Maguire had mentioned they liked The Sandman and wanted to get him into a film.  There was also the Green Goblin plot which developed over the course of the first two films that had to be addressed in the third.  And then there was Sony and Marvel (and to a certain extent, the fans) who wanted to see Venom make his big screen debut.  If they had bothered to do any fan research though, I think they would have found most fans would not have wanted Venom in this film and would have preferred to see him introduced slowly across multiple films like he wan in both the comics and television show.

It’s no surprise then that Spider-Man 3 became a bloated mess.  Raimi tried to bring everything full circle for Peter Parker by revealing another piece of the puzzle where Uncle Ben’s murder was concerned.  And not content to let Mary Jane and Peter have a conflict free movie, he put a lot of focus on their relationship and tried to create a love triangle with Harry, the New Goblin (who looked ridiculous).  And then they had to get Gwen Stacey in for some reason, and introduce Eddie Brock and the black costume.  The fact that the movie actually does have a coherent plot is some-what commendable, even if it’s not a good one.

The film made a ton of money riding on the strength of the franchise more so than on the merits of the film itself.  The ending tied up some loose ends for the trilogy, mostly the Green Goblin story, but left things open where MJ and Peter were concerned.  I hated this ending, though the film did such a good job of making both Peter and MJ unlikable that I really didn’t care what became of their relationship once the credits began to roll.  Because it did make so much money, there was some speculation that Raimi and the main cast would return for a fourth film.  Things appeared to be moving in that direction until Sony abruptly cut ties with all involved.  This actually was met with a positive reaction by the fan-base, or seemed to be.  Fans actually seemed on board with a reboot of sorts for Spider-Man, partly because the existing films seemed to lose their way with all the melodrama thrown into the films, and because the Venom character was so thoroughly botched.

The new leads: Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield

A fresh start was definitely in order, but I’m not sure if The Amazing Spider-Man is what fans had in mind.  This new film is copying the Batman Begins formula perhaps too much by re-telling Spider-Man’s origin.  When Begins came out it had been well over a decade since Batman in 1989 and his origin really wasn’t explored in as great of detail as Begins set out to do.  With Spider-Man that’s not the case.  This film does give film-goers a look at Peter’s parents, which was never addressed in the previous trilogy, but it also goes through the whole bitten by a spider thing again.  I don’t speak for everyone, but I have no interest in seeing that re-hashed.  The film’s main villain is going to be The Lizard, who supposedly would have been the villain had Raimi’s franchise continued for a fourth film as well.  He’s another scientist with good intentions who has a horrible accident that leads to him becoming a super-villain.  That type is quite common in the Spider-Man universe, but The Lizard may be one of the most boring.  The film could portray him differently than most mediums, but for the most parts he’s just a mindless rampaging creature that tests Spider-Man physically, not so much intellectually.  He’s been around for a long time so he’s had other portrayals, but that’s the basic one.

If this isn’t the reboot fans were looking for, then what was?  Well, I think fans would have been happy to see a new actor dawn the red and blue tights without an origin story.  The film could have still ignored the Raimi trilogy and laid the groundwork for a new one.  It makes sense to go with a villain that wasn’t captured in the first three films already to provide some added freshness, though I’m not sure The Lizard was the right one.  Ideally, Eddie Brock would be in it to set the stage for Venom in a later film, but a main villain would be needed for the first one.  A grounded, real world type of villain might have worked best just to get away from the whole science gone wrong angle.  He may have shown up in Daredevil already, but The Kingpin could have been utilized again, maybe even the Spider Slayers?  The plot could show how Spider-Man, portrayed as a teen out having a good time stopping muggings and other petty crimes, confronts an enemy far more dangerous than anything he’s confronted before.  Kingpin could even have a lackey to beat the tar out of Spider-Man, someone like Hammerhead, Tombstone, or The Rhino.

The new costume has a Ben Reilly feel to it. That's not a good thing.

Or my concerns could amount to nothing.  It’s not impossible that The Amazing Spider-Man turns into a great movie, though I don’t consider it likely.  Maybe I’m just being pessimistic, but this thing looks dead in the water.  I expect it to do well at the box office, but perhaps not so well critically.  This may just end up being the example of what not to do when rebooting a franchise.  It has a “too soon” feeling already, and if a large chunk of the film’s run time is spent going over things the previous films already covered people may react negatively.  Then again, maybe the casual movie-goer doesn’t care and just wants to be entertained.  Spider-Man bouncing around and wailing on a CGi Lizard may delight audiences, and a lot of people seem to like Emma Stone who plays Gwen Stacy (whom has the misfortune of expectation as comic fans will basically just be waiting for her to die).  The trailer is linked below, so you can form your own early opinion on the film.  Mine seems obvious, but in the interest of spelling things out, I don’t expect this to end well.

 

 

 

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February 11, 2012

Action Figures!

By Joe

It’s been almost a year since I made my initial entry talking about my affection for collecting things.  In that entry, I mentioned how I used to collect action figures.  I loved action figures as a kid, even more so than video games.  Action figures were my go-to toy when I needed to entertain myself.  I even separate my childhood into phases based on what line of action figures dominated my playtime.  In chronological order, they are:  Ghostbusters, TMNT, and X-Men/Spider-Man.  That basically took me from age four to ten or eleven.  Around that age playing with action figures and acting out climactic battles starts to feel childish, plus puberty kicks in which brings along a whole host of new interests and time-wasters.  Most of those toys are gone now, either sold at yard sales or thrown away.  I have most of my X-Men and Spider-Man ones, and I did save the original TMNT line and movie line, not because they’re worth anything, just because I’m sentimental.

Once I hit my late teens I started working a part-time job and soon found myself with disposable income for the first time in my life.  Most kids my age probably spent their money on booze and drugs, I ended up buying toys.  I’m not saying that makes me better than most of my peers, actually it kind of makes me a dork.  New action figures were way better than anything I ever had and they impressed the Hell out of me.  It didn’t make much sense to me, but I started buying more and more.  At first it was a figure here or there, then it started to become whole lines.  I’d buy what I thought looked cool, and then I’d just buy everything.  It was a compulsion.  This lasted probably from the time I was 16 until 22.  At that point in time I was living on my own, I had no place to really put more toys, and the Marvel Legends line switched from Toy Biz to Hasbro and went down the crapper.  Since then I’ve bought a few toys here and there, but by and large I’m done unless I have a kid who gets action figures.

To break up the monotony of all of these video game posts of late, I thought now would be a good time to go digging through some boxes and come up with my 10 favorite action figures.  And by favorite, I mostly mean favorite looking with some addition of intrinsic value taking hold as well.  If I were to make a list of my favorite and most played with toys it would have been an entirely different list.  These are, for the most part, all modern action figures that I acquired in my teens and twenties.  Most of them are from the world of comics, with some cartoon characters as well.  Before I get to my list, let’s take some time out for one honorable mention:

Turtle Trolls

There are some pretty cool gimmick action figures out there.  Lego versions of popular characters come to mind as well as Lego-type toys like Mini Mates and Kubricks.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had many such gimmicks that range from cool to embarrassing.  This one such cross-over falls somewhere in between, though for many it might fall into the embarrassing category.  Treasure Trolls were really popular in the early ’90s.  They didn’t do anything and were cheaply made, but for some reason kids had to have them.  Seeing an opportunity for a cross-over, Playmates and whoever made Treasure Trolls combined the TMNT brand with the trolls and the result was Turtle Trolls.  These things are quite silly, but terribly cute.  They still look mostly like turtles, just with big, colorful hair.  The accessories they came with were mined from existing Turtles figures and really don’t make much sense (Leonardo has the stone katanas that came with Cave Turtle Leo, for instance) but I guess Playmates felt they couldn’t just go with normal weapons.  For whatever reason, I liked this gimmick as a kid and still like it today which is why I still have a set of Turtle Trolls.

Honorable mention out of the way, time for the The Nostalgia Spot’s Top 10 Action Figures!

10. Marvel Legends Green Goblin/Spider-Man Classics Hobgoblin

I couldn’t separate these two, and since they’re so similar, they both get to share spot #10.  Hobgoblin was treated quite well by Toy Biz in the aughts as he received two really sharp figures.  The first Spider-Man Classics Hobgoblin was based on his demonic appearance.  Creatively, the sculpt took some liberties in making him look quite fearsome and the sculpter opted for brown instead of orange for the costume which gave the character a certain gritty-ness not seen in the comics.  As cool as it was, I prefer the more traditional take that came later.  This Hobgoblin is picture perfect when compared with the comic book character.  The colors are vibrant and clean and he wasn’t given some cheesy action feature that could detract from the sculpt.  The pumpkin bomb is permanently affixed to his left hand, but that doesn’t really bother me.  The Green Goblin is every bit as good.  He’s from the Marvel Legends line from the Onslaught wave.  The colors are a bit darker as the Legends line tried to appeal more to adults than the Spider-Man Classics line.  Perhaps a more vibrant paint job would have been more comic accurate, but this works just fine.  It’s not the worst thing in the world to downplay the purple and green color scheme.  Like Hobgoblin, his pumpkin bomb is also permanently attached to his hand.  His glider also has a nice stand for displaying instead of the more cartoonish smoke cloud that Hobgoblin has.  I like the angle the glider’s wings are at too, as it makes the figure much easier to pose.

9.  IF Labs Super Saiyan Vegeta

Dragon Ball Z was a big reason for my renewed interest in action figures.  I got into the series as a teen which made the action figures suddenly appealing.  For awhile, they were terrible as the US distributer, Irwin,  just re-released the old Bandai and AB figures which had long since become outdated.  Eventually, Irwin would start producing its own figures.  There were some growing pains, and the normal five inch line was geared more towards kids than collectors, but they ended up putting out some worthwhile stuff.  Their high grade collector line, IF Labs, had its share of misses but had some hits as well.  IF Labs focused more on the DBZ films, and this version of Vegeta is from the The Return of Cooler OVA.  Articulation wise, the figure leaves something to be desired as its pretty basic, but the sculpt and paint job is bad ass.  Vegeta was one of my favorites from the show, and I was stoked to pick this one up.  He’s around 7″ tall, making him short compared to the rest of the line but still larger than the standard line of action figures.  Irwin/IF never made a better Vegeta than this one, and arguably never produced a better figure than this one.

8. Marvel Legends Apocalypse

Not to be confused with the series 7 Apocalypse action figure, this is the massive build-a-figure Apocalypse from series 12.  At that point, Toy Biz had started releasing each figure in a wave with a piece of a larger figure.  This particular wave of figures came with a piece of the world’s oldest mutant, Apocalypse.  This was a welcomed figure as the series 7 Apocalypse was not well-received.  He was short and fat and a rather poor representation of the figure.  Most figures in the Legends line could trace their appearance to a certain point in time, but that Apocalypse really had no comic counterpart.  This one was true to the likeness of Apocalypse from the ’80s, just huge.  Yeah it would have been nice to have a 6″ scaled Apocalypse as this one is perhaps too big (even though one of Apocalypse’s many mutant powers was the ability to grow in size) but still pretty awesome.  He’s hefty too and one solid figure.  This Apocalypse was the last of the standard waves of figures to feature a build-a-figure of this size.  Future ones were much smaller in scale, which really diminished their coolness (especially for the series 13 Onslaught).  This Apocalypse is a mix of blue and black, though apparently some pieces were colored black where they should have been blue so there are a few more black Apocalypse’s floating around.  The range of motion on his legs is a bit limited, and he’s so top-heavy that he can be hard to stand.  The rest of the figure features typical Marvel Legends articulation.  In the original batch of figures one of his cables was missing and collectors had to go to Toy Biz for a replacement.  As you can see, I went through the effort to have a complete Apocalypse.

7. Unifive Ultimate Saiyan Vegeta

The only character to appear twice on my list, this Vegeta is of a much smaller scale than the previous one and attempts to capture the character in all of his forms from the anime.  It doesn’t quite pull that trick off, but he’s pretty cool nonetheless.  Unifive is a Japanese company and as such this is a Japanese figure that was never released in the US.  He was pretty costly at the time, and has only become more costly since release.  The figure is probably less than 5″ tall though I assume that’s so he can fit in with the other figures from the line (I don’t own any of the other ones).  His coloring is also supposed to resemble the manga more than the anime which basically just means he’s a little darker than usual.  The articulation is rather interesting as it’s mostly cut joints instead of ball joints.  He’s capable of a variety of poses but the cut joints hide the articulation well and make him easy to display.  He comes with a bunch of accessories that I didn’t feel like digging out.  As such, only a couple are displayed in the picture.  He came with four heads:  regular, super saiyan, majin, and oozaru (great ape).  The oozaru head includes damaged saiyan armor like what he wore in his first appearance.  He has a display base that’s just some barren ground with little saibamen heads poking out.  There’s an attachable mountain to cover-up the heads and a little tiny Goku clicks into it so you can display Vegeta in his ape form and he’s actually to scale with Goku!  He also has a removable tail and scouter.  It would have been nice if he had some shoulder pads to more accurately depict him in his Saiyan Saga attire.  There’s also no top to pair with the Majin Vegeta head for an accurate portrayal of that character.  The second set of figures from Unifive (featuring Trunks and Gohan) would do a much better job of accounting for the different looks of the characters.  Short-comings aside, this is my favorite 5″ scale DBZ figure.

6.  Marvel Legends Sentinel

Another build-a-figure, and this one really made use of the format.  This is a more modern take on the Sentinel character from X-Men and he’s pretty bad ass.  Pieces of this figure were distributed in wave 10 which had a very X-Men feel to it.  The coloring is muted and gritty and great care was taken to sculpt the more mechanical parts of the figure making a giant red and purple robot seem almost believable.  Like Apocalypse, there’s a tremendous heft to this figure that’s quite satisfying.  Unlike Apocalypse, his feet are huge making him easy to stand and pose.  He came with a couple of detachable cables (the same that were used for Omega Red from the same series) to coil around various mutants.  Not surprisingly, this one was a real hit with collectors as this was one giant figure that was mostly in scale with the others.  Many would buy multiples of the figures in wave 10 to create their own Sentinel army.  I was satisfied to just have one.

5.  Marvel Select Ultimate Venom

While Toy Biz was releasing highly articulated action figures to toy stores across the globe, Diamond was releasing high grade figures to specialty shops.  Their Marvel Select line had its own scale and focused more on creating a dynamic scene as opposed to making an actual action figure.  Most of the toys featured little articulation but usually came with a display base of some kind.  They also weren’t afraid to tackle some of Marvel’s more obscure characters and embraced the Ultimate Universe that was fairly popular at the time.  I was always a big Venom fan and I always bought the latest action figure to depict him.  Perhaps my standards were set too high considering he was my favorite character, but I often wasn’t completely happy with Venom figures.  This one though is the first I can ever recall being truly satisfied with.  He’s based on his appearance in Ultimate Spider-Man, but Diamond put out two versions of him and this one featured the iconic white spider logo that wasn’t present on the character in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man.  Like most Venom figures, he’s black but with some purple accents.  He’s a solid and heavy figure and has many sculpted pseudopods protruding from his costume.  I especially like the work done on the head and claws.  He also came with a frightened Peter Parker to torment eternally.  This is easily my favorite Venom action figure and there really isn’t a close runner-up.

4. Masterpiece Optimus Prime and Megatron

I’ve never been anything more than a casual fan of Transformers.  The cartoon never grabbed me like the TMNT cartoon, and I just wasn’t that interested in cars that transformed into robots, as cool a concept as that is.  That concept was cool enough for me to acquire a few Transformers here and there.  As a little guy, I had a couple that I only vaguely remember.  When Hasbro released the Generation 2 wave I bought a couple including the Generation 2 Grimlock and Optimus Prime.  When Takara/Hasbro unveiled the Masterpiece Optimus Prime a few years ago the collector in me had to have it.  Here was the perfect Transformer.  Not only does Optimus look like he was pulled from the cartoon, he also transforms into a perfect rendition of his truck form.  No sacrifices had to be made for one form or the other.  The one pictured is the US version which had smaller smoke stacks (apparently we can’t handle longer ones) but he’s still just as cool.  He came with several accessories, and is actually fairly easy to transform.  My favorite touch is the little button on the back of his head that makes his mouth-piece move like he’s talking.  It kind of makes me want to play with him right now.  And after Optimus was released, it was only a matter of time before a Megatron came out as well.  Like Optimus, Megatron is designed to resemble his cartoon form.  Here the designers weren’t as successful which isn’t surprising considering Megatron’s transformation is the most absurd one in the cartoon.  Still, they did a good job with what they had to work with.  His legs did come out skinny making him hard to stand.  Adding the tremendous weight of his arm cannon just makes posing him even more difficult.  When transformed, he makes for a pretty convincing replica of a Walther P38.  Gun enthusiasts won’t be fooled, but others might.  As a result, the US forced Hasbro to put a bright orange cap on the end which is why I got the Japanese version.  Unlike Prime though, transforming Megatron is a total bitch and is something I’ve only done a couple of times.  He has less die-cast than Prime too, making him more fragile.  He’s definitely the lesser of the two, and other Masterpiece figures like Starscream and Grimlock are probably better, but what’s Optimus Prime without his arch nemesis?  I had to include him.

3. Marvel Legends Deadpool

A piece of advice for any toy manufacturers trying to win me over; I love accessories!  When an action figure comes with everything it’s supposed to I get excited.  Marvel Legends Deadpool is a great example of a character coming with just the right amount of accessories.  He’s got a 9mm, two AK’s, two katanas, and a pair of sai.  He even comes with a second, mask-less head that’s totally creepy and an action stand for cool poses.  All of the details are in place including the goofy Deadpool mask-logo on his belt.  This figure reused probably the most popular sculpt Toy Biz would produce, the Daredevil sculpt, and even left Daredevil’s leg pouch on the right leg.  Reusing sculpts kind of sucks, but if it’s done well I can forgive it and this one is.  The only negative I can say about it are that the shoulders are a bit too bulky.  In that case, appearance was sacrificed some for articulation and Deadpool is loaded with articulation.  He can be posed in just about any position one can dream up and I love that all of his accessories have a place they can be stored on his belt.  The paint scheme is very clean and the costume is spot-on.  He is a perfect action figure.  Toy Biz either underestimated the character’s popularity or just plain had distribution issues because he was a bitch to find in stores.  Not long after Marvel Legends Series 6 was released, Deadpool was showing up on eBay for big bucks.  Really, that whole series was botched as Juggernaut and Phoenix were a colossal pain in the ass to find which is a shame because that was one of the better waves of figures Toy Biz ever put out.  Deadpool also came with Doop from X-Force, the slimer wannabe.  I don’t like Doop, so he’s not pictured.

2.  Hot Toys Dark Knight Batman

You may have noticed that some of these toys appeared in my original post about collections.  That’s not a coincidence because most of my favorite toys are still on display in my home, while the rest are sealed away in the basement.  This one was featured in that post and represents one of the last figures I ever bought.  Normally movie themed lines are terrible.  Action figures seem to always come out better when they’re trying to resemble a piece of art and not an actual person.  Action figures can sometimes point out how absurd a character would look in the real world making the figures totally undesirable or just plain ugly.  This is no such toy.  Hot Toys puts out high grade action figures that are more like dolls than what most would consider an action figure.  These things are stupidly expensive, which is why I only bought one from the series, but are extremely nice.  This take on Batman is from the film The Dark Knight and depicts his updated costume in that film.  He comes with a stand and a bunch of little accessories including an assortment of bat-a-rangs, bombs, and even a second head.  I’ve never bothered to switch him to the Bruce Wayne head because why would I ever want to?  His costume is a rubbery material that works really well because it’s how I imagine the costume would actually feel.  All of the little details are present making this probably the most accurate movie-based figure in existence.  He also came with an extra set of hands but good luck getting the factory attached ones off, I never could.  That’s okay though, because he looks cool as is.  He also sports quite a bit of articulation.  I’ve never gone through the trouble to really pose him but there’s plenty of pictures online of people who have.  If you’ve got about $150 burning a hole in your pocket and really want an awesome Batman toy, you can’t go wrong with this one.

1.  NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Maybe I’m cheating again by making my number 1 action figure four figures, but as you can see, it couldn’t be done any other way.  The Ghostbusters got me into action figures, but my obsession exploded with the TMNT and they were really my first love.  These toys are everything I love about action figures.  They look great, move great, are loaded with accessories, and are of characters that I adore.  Each one has just the right amount of personality to separate it form the rest, perhaps even more so than the comics they come from.  And as you can see, these turtles are based on the ones from Mirage Comics.  Each one comes with a base, some knives, their turtle specific weapons, a little turtle, and an extra set of climbing hands.  That’s all well and good, but all I really care about is that each turtle has his weapons.  Mikey stands out in this regard as his nunchaku have real chains, how awesome is that?!  Every incarnation of the character released before that had all plastic nunchaku and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think one would come along with actual chains.  Raph’s sai are just wide enough that he can fit his fingers within the blades which is cool for display purposes (though I’m too scared to do it as I’m afraid the sai will stretch and break after awhile).  I love the expression on Donatello’s face, it just looks exactly how I picture him.  And Leo is Leo, which means he’s awesome.  Somehow, some way, NECA did not sell enough of these figures to warrant future ones.  They did do an April O’Neil figure that was just as ugly as the source material.  I’m guessing that one sold poorly which is why we never got a Mirage Shredder to join these turtles.  One was unveiled at a Toy Fair along with a Foot soldier, but he has never been released which is a shame.  At least we got four comic accurate turtles that kick all kinds of ass.  And if you really want a comic accurate set, NECA released a four-pack of the Turtles that are colored in black and white.  I prefer the colored ones, but it’s pretty cool they went through the effort of putting out a second set.

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January 16, 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection – Volume 1

By Joe

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)

When I was a wee-lad growing up in the 1980’s I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  And I don’t mean I just liked watching them on television or playing with their toys, I was obsessed.  And I was the norm.  It seemed like every boy my age loved the Turtles, and what was there not to love?  They were ninjas, they were young, they kicked ass, ate pizza, and even cracked a few jokes along the way.  Plus, their theme song was totally tubular, dude.

As was the case for most, my interactions with this new era fab four was mostly contained to television, until the movies started coming out.  Sure I knew the Turtles existed in the print form as well, I saw them fairly frequently in the check-out aisle at the grocery store, but always thought the TV show came first.  Those were the turtles I knew best.  Then the first film came along and changed things up a bit, most notably the Raphael character.  He was a hot-head on film and kind of hard to predict.  On TV though he was the wise guy known for breaking the fourth wall.  Even though the television show never adapted the stronger personality of movie Raph, that was the persona that took over the character for me.

Little did I know that was how Raphael was always intended to be.  For as many are now aware the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually first found success in the print form through Mirage Studios.  Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the original story set the stage for all future endeavors and introduced readers to the four turtles we know best:  Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and their sensei Splinter.  It’s intended as a bit of a parody of early 80’s comics, especially Frank Miller’s Daredevil.  The concept of four anthropomorphic turtles roaming the sewers of New York City is about as far-fetched as it gets.  And Eastman and Laird didn’t stop there, for like the television show with its forays into sci-fi, Eastman and Laird take the Turtles across the galaxy and back.

As a kid, this was all I knew of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, I’ve been well-aware of these Ninja Turtles for quite some time, and have even seen some of the comics long since my obsession faded away.  Never before though have I actually taken the time to read through these early works.  It hit me out of no where sometime last summer, a need to see how my beloved childhood heroes were supposed to be portrayed.  It probably started a little earlier with the 4 Kids Entertainment television movie Turtles Forever, a feature that tried to blend the cartoon from the 80’s with the cartoon from 2003.  It also included the original Mirage Comics turtles and was a really fun production, though nothing stellar.  I found that the old trade paperbacks printed off during the 90’s collecting the old works were quite hard to come by at this point.  I was pretty frustrated with the prices I was seeing on eBay and trips to my own local comic book store proved fruitless as well.  My spirits were elevated though when I came across a new TPB on amazon.com set for release in the coming months.  I pre-ordered it right away and then began to wait, and wait, and wait…

I had pretty much forgotten about that pre-order when I finally received a notification in December that my copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:  The Ultimate Collection – Volume 1 had shipped, more than three months after it was supposed to ship and six months after I had ordered it.  I wasn’t mad about the delay or anything, I just had simply forgotten about the thing and actually thought it might have been cancelled.  I’m glad it wasn’t, as I quite enjoyed my foray into Classic Turtles and I’m going to tell you all about.

First of all, this collection is very well put together.  It’s hard cover and oversized when compared with a normal comic book.  The artwork inside has been enlarged over the originals to accommodate this format and is presented in its original black and white.  The cover features new artwork from Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and both he and Laird have a brief write-up following the first comic.  Eastman breaks down each issue page by page and offers some nice insight and really does a good job of putting the reader in a frame of mind to look at the Ninja Turtles from his perspective back when this thing all got started.

The company is IDW Publishing who acquired the rights to the printed turtles in early 2011 and wasted no time in getting this out.  Mirage, now controlled by Laird, is actually not involved with this at all.  Laird’s sparse commentaries apparently were taken from his blog (with his permission) and it doesn’t look like he contributed really at all to this release.  Eastman, more or less, abandoned the TMNT in the 90’s so it’s a bit surprising to see him team-up with IDW to put out new TMNT comics.  In addition to working on this collection, he is overseeing a new line of comics that began hitting shelves sometime late last summer.  Perhaps his funds are running low and he needs to turn back to old reliable once again.

Cover for TMNT #4, though most probably know this as the cover for the NES game.

If Eastman was burnt out on the Turtles in the 90’s he no longer is, or hides it well.  As I said, he does a great job of taking the reader back to the infancy of the Turtles and shows great exuberance.  He comes across as someone who loves to talk about the Turtles and is truly excited about this project.  If I have one minor quibble with his commentary it’s that he may be a little too reverential about his own work.  He seems to love everything he and Laird did, and maybe that’s true, but I feel like most artists when looking back on their old works would notice some areas for criticism.  Maybe he just wanted to keep things positive.  Despite that he doesn’t really come across as stuck-up or anything, he just sounds like a super fan.

The actual stories should be familiar to anyone well-versed in Ninja Turtles lore.  Both the animated show and the film borrow heavily from the comics when discussing the origin of the Turtles though neither adapted it completely.  In both the cartoon and film, Hamato Yoshi’s chief rival is Oroku Saki but in the comic book it was Oroku Nagi.  Yoshi kills Nagi while defending his love and it’s Nagi’s younger brother, Saki, who seeks revenge.  From there, it’s basically the same as the film with Yoshi fleeing to New York and Saki eventually following with his own faction of the Foot Clan.  Saki kills Yoshi, but during the scrum Yoshi’s pet ret is able to escape who would go on to become Splinter.

The first comic is both an introduction to the Ninja Turtles and a revenge piece.  After their first taste of live combat, the triumphant Turtles return to their master who finally shares the tale of how they came to be.  This sets the wheels in motion for a showdown with Oroku Saki, now called The Shredder, and Splinter dispatches Raphael to send a message to Shredder to meet the Turtles for a fight to the death.  True to their word, the Turtles do battle Shredder to the death, which closes out the first issue.

The artwork is quite rough.  The style suits the Turtles but the human characters look oddly proportioned.  The scenery is sometimes too busy as well, as the background clouds the action scenes at times.  The writing is also fairly amateurish.  The ideas are there but Eastman and Laird struggle to bring them out from a literary perspective.  I do like the approach of the opening though, with Leonardo serving as narrator, and the layout and pacing of the book is anything but amateurish and easily the book’s strength.  The violence that everyone speaks of when referencing the original books is a bit exaggerated.  Yes there’s more violence here than what was present on TV, but I feel it compares to what was presented in the first film, only with blood and actual death.  There’s no gore really, and while the Turtles aren’t a bunch of wise-cracking butt kickers I wouldn’t call the mood of the book “dark.”  Gritty yes, but not dark.

Short-comings aside, the first issue is actually quite enjoyable.  The action sequences and sheer uniqueness of the characters is what sells it.  Issue 2 brings in April O’Neil and Baxter Stockman.  O’Neil is a lab assistant for Stockman, not a news reporter, and Stockman is busy perfecting his mousers.  The Turtles end up encountering O’Neil in a similar manner to how they have in every other medium and do battle with Stockman and his creations, who hold a more sinister agenda than simple rat extermination.  Stockman is fairly clever and devious, a far cry from the bumble-head shown on television, and proves a formidable foe though he too is ultimately dispatched.  Not before, however, apparently claiming the life of Master Splinter leaving the Turtles devastated and without a home.

The rest of the comics carry forward the narrative as the Turtles search for answers regarding Splinter’s disappearance.  Their story takes them into space, of all places, where they meet the benevolent Fugitoid and the nefarious Triceratons.  The more sci-fi stories are less interesting for me, but it’s enjoyable to watch Eastman and Laird’s abilities improve for each issue.  The artwork improves, and though it never rivals a Frank Miller or Allen Moore, the writing does improve as well.  Their imaginations should certainly be commended, if nothing else.

The Raphael solo issue.

The collection includes the first 7 issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and also includes the Raphael one-shot “micro” issue.  Each turtle received his own issue at one point and this collection includes Raph’s which introduces the character Casey Jones.  Jones is designed to hold up a mirror to Raphael and show him what he’d become if he gave into his rage wholly.  Jones shows no mercy when dealing with common street punks and Raph basically has to save the criminals from him.  They duke it out in a pretty brutal contest before eventually becoming pals.  Their relationship in the first film was pretty faithful to how it’s presented here.

If these issues have one major short-coming for me it’s with the actual characters of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael.  Leonardo is given the most attention and he’s clearly the most mature and the one that takes after Splinter the most.  He’s not given the title of leader, he takes it.  Raphael is shown as a bit of a loose cannon, but not to the degree he was in the film.  He really isn’t shown to have much of a rivalry with Leo, which is something that surprised me.  Donatello is shown to be more studious than the others and does get a few chances to show off his tech-savy abilities, but nothing to the degree that the television show would adopt.  Michaelangelo ends up being the least developed character and has no real personality to call his own.  He’s shown to be a pretty talented fighter in a sparring match with Raph, and some of his care free persona shows through but only slightly.  And if anyone who’s never seen the stories is curious, no, there’s no pizza or surfer talk.  In one panel Raph actually asks April to fetch him a beer.

All in all, this compendium did meet my expectations.  I always assumed the self-professed hardcore TMNT fans oversold the original works in terms of its violence and tone and found that to be mostly the case.  While I was surprised by some developments, this was mostly how I envisioned the Turtles came across in print.  IDW exceeded my expectations with the quality of this release, and I suppose they should have since the MSRP is $50!  Amazon sells it for much cheaper for those interested and I’d say any TMNT fans looking for a collection should check this one out.  I don’t know how many of these Eastman and IDW are preparing but I have Volume 2 already pre-ordered which is currently slated for release at the end of March.  It will include the next 4 issues plus the rest of the micro books which I hope will add more depth to the individual turtle personalities.  I look forward to getting my hands on it in the coming months.

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January 14, 2012

Where, oh Where, is Yorick Brown?

By Joe

Y: The Last Man (Issue 23, Vertigo)

With a new film in the Ghost Rider series set for release in the upcoming weeks, it got me to thinking about the comic book medium and how it has translated to the big screen.  Hollywood has always been interested in comics.  This interest for a long time was reserved really for the super elite characters of Superman and Batman.  Over the last two decades though, that has changed tremendously.

I suppose it started in the 80’s to some degree.  During that decade we were treated to such cinematic gold as The Punisher and Howard the Duck.  They were, of course, something far less than gold and today are only viewed by those looking for a laugh.  I can sort of see why a production company would think the Punisher character would work for a movie.  Especially considering that this was the time when the action hero picture was making big bucks.  I have no idea how Howard the Duck ever received the green light.  It was a terrible idea, and the results were pretty terrible as well.

I suppose we have Fox’s X-Men, and to a lesser extent Blade, to thank for this wave of comic book films.  X-Men seemed to do just enough to satisfy critics and fans of the comic, and in turn, it made quite a bit of money.  This made Marvel Comics, which had struggled financially during a lot of the 90’s, all kinds of happy as it quickly began licensing all of its franchises for films.  At the time I think a lot of people expected little to come from these agreements, but it seems like the opposite occurred.  Not only did the X-Men make it to film, but Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Punisher (again), Daredevil, and more.  Some of these sucked, but it seems like most actually made money so the studios keep going back again and again.  Not to be out done by its chief rival, DC also got into the game with not just Batman and Superman films, but Catwoman, Watchmen and Green Lantern.  We’ve even seen the less popular titles make it to film as well such as Hell Boy, Road to Perdition, and V for Vendetta.

If you’re reading this then it’s probably safe to assume you like both comic books and film, so I’m going to assume most are aware of the relative quality of the above pictures.  There’s some good ones in there and some even bring about good debates, but there’s also a lot of garbage.  You’re probably also aware that even Marvel’s Man-Thing character managed to get a movie during this period, it just didn’t play in theaters.  That’s a pretty obscure character and when you combine that with Ghost Rider and Thor it almost seems crazy that there are people who think these characters can make a good movie.  I know Thor is kind of a classic character in the Marvel Universe.  I’ve never been a fan so maybe I’m biased but I look at a character like Thor and I just don’t see a good film.  I don’t even really see an interesting character.  Thor works best when he’s paired with other characters, not when he’s the star.  As for Ghost Rider, well, at least he looks cool (when not played by Nicholas Cage).  Which leaves me with one big question:  Where is Yorick Brown?

Has any comic series come along in the last 20 years that is better equipped to make the leap to the big screen than Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man?  I would argue no and for several reasons:

One, the main character is not a super hero.  Yorick is just a college-age kid who happens to be the last man alive.  He’s an amateur escape artists so that gives him a unique set of skills to be worked into the main plot, but there’s nothing flashy about him.  This means no awkward looking costumes and no big, expensive special effects.  In other words, he’s cheap!

Two, the main character fits right into the target demographic.  He’s young and he’s male, isn’t that who the studios are trying to attract?  Make him played by a cute actor and now suddenly the women want to see the movie.  This is easy!  He’s also a pretty charming character with a quick wit not, unlike Peter Parker, but also has some pretty common insecurities when it comes to women.  If anything, he’s too perfect for film.

Three, the story is unique and interesting.  All of the men on the planet suddenly drop dead except one.  There are so many questions that initial premise creates, enough to last a full trilogy.  It also avoids the whole over-played super villain character.  We don’t have to deal with some misguided scientist who accidentally gave himself super powers but warped his own mind in the process.  No one is out for world domination, and the antagonists are relatively unknown.  There’s an ultra feminist cult that shows up from time to time, but they’re not the main villain.

Four, it’s a pretty small cast.  There’s Yorick and his two female companions Agent 355 and Dr. Allison Mann.  They meet quite a few people on their trek across the globe, but there aren’t many re-occurring characters.  This means no awkward, giant cast like with X-Men or the upcoming Avengers flick.

Ampersand, a star just waiting to be born!

Five, there’s a monkey!  Americans love monkeys, and Yorick’s other companion is Ampersand, a male capuchin monkey who happens to be the only other living, male mammal on the planet.  He also throws poop.

Yorick’s search for answers plays out across 60 issues like a good adventure story.  I suppose that’s another plus for Hollywood, this story has a beginning and an end.  It’s not an on-going book like most comics and it’s been over for quite a while.  60 issues sounds a like a lot to fit into a trilogy, but they’re pretty action and scenery driven books easily classified as light reading.  I think I breezed through most of the story in about a weekend.  And given that it’s 60 issues it allows the director and screenplay writers to break it up into thirds.  It was released in 10 graphic novels after the main run, which is how I experienced it, and if I was to write a screenplay for the first movie I’d focus on the first three books.  Some stuff would obviously be trimmed out, book 4 seems like an obvious one to see some cutting down, but I think it would be fairly easy to adapt the entire run over three films.

Which is actually the answer to my question.  As much as I’d like to think I am, I’m not smarter than the studio heads of the major production companies.  Anyone who even looked at a summary for Y: The Last Man knows it could be adapted for film and that it would have a chance to do well.  That’s why the rights to the film property have already been secured by New Line Cinema, which is a sister company of Vertigo, the comic book company that ran Yorick’s story.  Unfortunately, New Line isn’t one of the biggest in the game and it’s their bottom-line that’s preventing the biggest obstacle.  Vaughan has done a screenplay for a potential film, and D.J. Caruso was attached to direct, but one major obstacle has reared its rather ugly head.  New Line is hell-bent on doing Y: The Last Man as a stand-alone movie, while Caruso and Vaughan see it as a trilogy.  It would seem like the compromise would be to do the film the way Vaughan and Caruso wish to, and if it makes money, to go ahead with two more, but I guess things aren’t that simple.

I know exactly what you're thinking, "You mean to tell me there's ninjas too?! Why hasn't this happened?!"

As of right now, that’s where we stand.  Things were moving pretty quickly for Yorick for awhile, but not much has been said since 2008.  Caruso has since walked away and no replacement has been announced.  There was talk of potentially turning the comic into a television series, but I don’t think such talk was ever serious.  I could see it working for TV in a one hour format, but would fear that it would never reach the end.  If the show was a success, there would be a temptation to just run with it until people got sick of it, meaning new story-lines would be created on the fly.  And if it failed, we’d just end up with a season or two and not the complete tale.  I still think a trilogy is the best way to go about it, and I’m puzzled that New Line thinks it won’t make money on a trilogy.  There’s just no way to condense a 60 issue comic into a two hour film and do it right.  I also don’t think a studio could get away with the Watchmen approach of one giant movie.

It’s really too bad, as I think Yorick Brown could be a minor star on film.  Because the book was put out by Vertigo, it hasn’t reached the audience it would have if done by Marvel or DC.  And if it had been done by Marvel, it would undoubtedly have been made into a film by now.  It’s plot line is thought-provoking and quite interesting.  Mostly, the story is just fun and that translates to any medium.  Maybe the studio will budge on its demands in time and let a film-maker do it the way he or she wants to.  Kick-Ass and other off-beat comic films have done well and made their studios money, so it seems like eventually Yorick will have his story told as well.  The wait is killer though, and the longer it goes the possibility that The Last Man will be forgotten starts to seem more and more likely.

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November 6, 2011

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

By Joe

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago I made a post on what I considered to be the definitive Batman film.  I ran thru just about all of the movies, be they theatrically released, direct to video, live-action, animated, whatever.  There was no real criteria, just that it had to be feature-length (admittedly arbitrary, since most of the animated flicks run just over an hour) and they had to be about Batman.  Surprising (to me), it was only my second post on Batman films in general, my first being a review of the first Burton film.  That just seemed funny to me, as in general I think Batman is the super hero who has made the best transition from comic to film.  Since Batman is about to become a very big topic with a new video game just released and a new movie on the way, it’s probably a safe bet he’s about to receive more love from me in the coming months.

If you didn’t read my post on the definitive Batman film, then spoiler-alert, I decided on 1993’s Mask of the Phantasm and it seems only appropriate that I dedicate a full post to its greatness.  It seems like a kind of contrarian take these days, but it wasn’t that long ago when most die-hard fans considered MOTP the best Batman film.  Nolan’s Batman Begins and its sequel, The Dark Knight, have kind of tempered the adoration once directed at MOTP, but why is that?  Obviously, it’s because as a culture we tend to value live-action over animation.  And while I love animation there is a very good reason for this.  Animated features tend to run around 85 minutes or so, as the process is both time-consuming and expensive and probably harder to direct.  A more fully realized plot is accommodated by live-action where a feature can run over 2 hours.  MOTP is no exception as its run time is a tidy 76 minutes.  It was also done with a very modest budget.  The animation really isn’t much of an improvement over the television show it’s based on.  There was a choir added to the main Batman theme, and some brief CG effects, but that’s it.  It does appear that the animation is better, but it could be my eyes deceiving me.

The film’s main villain, who’s mask kind of reminds me of the Punisher’s famous skull logo.

That said, those are among the few complaints I can levy against MOTP.  The animation may not be on par with the Disney features from the same period, but it still has style and is unquestionably “Batman” in its approach.  The animators were fond of using black paper for backgrounds which adds to the film’s overall dark visual tone.  Since almost all of the scenes take place at night, this makes a lot of sense.  The only really new character is the one the title alludes to, the Phantasm.  Though the character is actually never referred to by that name during the film, we can assume that’s its name.  The character resembles the grim reaper, though I prefer the Joker’s observation comparing it to the Ghost of Christmas Future.  The character generates a cloud of smoke and sports a cape and cowl, causing it to be confused with Batman which serves as the basis for the plot.

The plot being, some mob guys are being targeted and killed by a new vigilante.  We, the viewing audience, are cued into the fact that it’s a new vigilante in town that is responsible but the general public of Gotham are lead to believe that Batman is behind this.  No one is mourning the loss of these guys, but councilman Arthur Reeves (Hart Bochner) pleads to Commissioner Gordon that they can’t allow Batman to operate in this fashion.  Gordon, of course, sides with Batman and knows he can’t be behind this.  Meanwhile, Batman is left to deduce who this new vigilante is and what is the motivation for this latest attack.

This is around the time Bruce realizes he has a choice to make, Batman or her.

Along the way we get to see more executions, my particular favorite occurs in a cemetery, and an old flame of Bruce Wayne’s resurfaces in Gotham.  Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delany) has come to Gotham to settler some financial matters with Reeves and has a chance encounter with Batman at the cemetery where her mother (and Bruce’s parents) are buried.  As the plot of the film advances we’re treated to flashbacks of a young Bruce before he became Batman and how Andrea came into his life.  The two met at that same cemetery, and though Andrea had to play the role of aggressor, the two end up falling in love.  This caused the young Bruce much inner turmoil as after Andrea witnesses him take on some thugs and put his life on the line he realizes he can’t have it both ways.  He has to choose, be the vigilante anti-hero he thinks he needs to be to avenge his parents, or be Andrea’s beloved.

This leads to the film’s best scene.  A desperate Bruce on his knees before the headstone of his parents in the rain begging them for a sign.  He tells them he doesn’t know what to do, that their death no longer hurts as much as it used to, and that he never could have expected to be happy again.  It’s a rather poignant and heart-felt moment that gives great insight to the Bruce Wayne character.  Kevin Conroy, the voice actor of Bruce Wayne/Batman, gives a convincing performance and cements himself as the definitive voice of Batman that all future actors will be weighed against.  We, as the audience, also get a glimpse of just how misguided Bruce is.  He wants to avenge the deaths of his parents by cleaning up Gotham, but as human beings we know there’s no way a parent would wish that kind of life for their child.  A promise is a promise though, and Bruce is loathe to break his until Andrea strolls up behind him.  He takes that as his sign, and we’re left to wonder how this could have come to an end.

Those questions are answered when we’re introduced to Andrea’s father, Carl (Stacy Keach), a money manager of some regard who has become involved with Salvatore Valestra (Abe Vigoda).  Things seem fine, though we know Valestra to be a crime boss, until Beaumont becomes indebted to the thug.  Things get ugly, and the Beaumonts are forced to flee Gotham leaving Bruce behind with lots of questions and more heart ache.

Now the Phantasm is after an old and sickly Valestra and the crime boss is forced to make a proverbial deal with the devil; enter the Joker.  The Joker’s (Mark Hamill) portrayal is consistent with that of the animated series only with a touch more malice to suit the feature film’s tone.  He has some connections with the Valestra crew from his past, and loves to put his nose in Batman’s plans anyways.  What could have felt like the writers just tossing in the Joker for star power, turns out to work exceedingly well.

This one’s not afraid to get a little bloody.

I’ll spare you the rest of the plot details, and say that they include Batman’s detective work to find out who is under the mask of the Phantasm and a reunion with Andrea.  The film culminates in a showdown between the major players of the film in a most satisfying way.  There’s also an electric chase sequence between Batman and the Gotham PD that’s a joy to behold.  The mature tone and emphasis on plot makes this film incredibly engrossing, so much so that kids are not likely to enjoy it as much as adults.  And even though it received a PG rating, it’s actually fairly graphic as we see liberal amounts of blood and even a tooth sent flying after a well-placed Batman punch.  The film is not afraid to kill off characters, like the animated series probably would be, and Batman is even allowed to ditch that dorky helmet he had to wear for television when riding his bat-cycle.

All in all, Mask of the Phantasm is an excellent character study for our favorite caped crusader.  We’re not bogged down with the nitty gritty of his well-told origin and instead are shown a portion of Bruce’s life that is sometimes glossed over.  It’s really introspective to see just what Bruce was giving up when he fully committed himself to the Batman character.  And even though we feel bad for him, it’s riveting to see tragedy dumped on him.  And while the mystery isn’t too difficult to figure out, it’s still rewarding and comes across as logical.  This is just a really well made movie with more depth than a lot of the other Batman films put together.  If you never saw it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

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October 17, 2011

The Definitive Batman Film

By Joe

It's taken awhile, but on October 18th the greatest Batman story ever told makes its way to animation.

On the eve of the latest Batman film release (and video game), I thought it would be fun to look back at the films that have already been released.  After all, it wouldn’t be much fun to try and determine what the best Batman video game is considering most have been subpar.  It would be Arkham Asylum with a runner up of….?  I guess there were some okay 16 bit games, but nothing mind blowing.  It sounds like the soon to be released Arkham City is just as good so at least Asylum will have some company on the rather short good Batman video game list.

Arkham City will be the Batman related item that moves the most units tomorrow, but not to be forgotten is the direct to DVD feature film Batman: Year One.  Year One is of course an adaptation of the popular comic seres by Frank Miller that ran in the late 80’s.  Year One is perhaps the most celebrated Batman mini series, and certainly is the definitive take on the caped crusader’s origin.  Many elements from the plot of the book was incorporated into Batman Begins and, to a lesser extent, the animated series.  I’m curious how well it will hold up considering Batman’s origin has become a well told tale over the years.  As great as the book was, do we really need another origin story?  That fact alone will likely make it problematic to review as it will be hard to judge the film on its own merits.

Regardless, Batman has had his origin told many times to varying degrees of success over the years.  Plenty of other stories have also made it to film in either a live action medium or an animated one.  There’s been some great Batman movies, and there’s also been some stinkers, but which one is the definitive Batman movie?  There are quite a few contenders, so lets start whittling them down.

Let’s start with the first, often referred to as Batman: The Movie based on the television series staring Adam West in the titular role.  As entertaining as the movie can be, lets throw it out right away as the definitive Batman flick because it is not at all representative of the character.  Charming, but no Batman.

Yeah it's not Bruce Wayne in the costume, but this movie is not one to be missed.

Animation should not be discounted just because it’s not live action, which seems to command more respect in the US, and Batman has had some great animated portrayals.  One of those excellent features is Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker.  What could have easily been written off as a marketing gimmick turned out to be a nice series and the direct to video film was the high point for the Batman Beyond franchise.  As good as it is, it’s not a true portrayal of the Bruce Wayne character, so it’s out of the running.  If you haven’t seen it though, check it out.  It can likely be had for a few bucks on the second-hand market.

Two other animated features that skipped theaters include SubZero and Mystery of the Batwoman.  SubZero focuses on the villain Mr. Freeze, a villain failed by the comic books until Bruce Timm and Paul Dini got a hold of him and made him a truly tragic villain.  The film is a good one, but is over-shadowed by the stand-alone episode from the animated series “Heart of Ice.”  Mystery of the Batwoman puts Batman into the role of detective, something the films have a tendency to gloss over at times.  It’s a fun little title, but not really noteworthy.  It’s out.

Lastly, two other films can be written off right away, and I’m talking about the two Joel Schumacher directed features Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.  Batman and Robin was a mess with a bloated cast and oppressive visual style.  It’s a wretched abortion of a film and one of the worst pieces of crap I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching.  Batman Forever is merely subpar.  By comparison with its sequel, it’s positively exquisite.  It did have some fans, notably Roger Ebert who didn’t enjoy any of the other Tim Burton produced/directed films, but I hesitate to say it’s good.  It certainly isn’t memorable, and was another Burton helmed project that put most of the focus on the villains and not on the Batman character.

If you’re keeping count, that leaves us with six feature films to choose from:  Batman, Batman Returns, Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Under the Red Hood.  This is where things get tricky.

Michael Keaton - still my favorite Batman.

First of all, to be the definitive Batman film it has to focus a lot of its attention on the Batman character.  Three of the above mentioned films are origin stories, so Batman, Batman Begins, and Mask of the Phantasm are all up for consideration.  The Dark Knight spends a lot of time on the Joker, but unlike Burton’s Batman, the character doesn’t dominate the screen.  He’s actually not on screen as much as you probably remember, but his presence is felt all throughout the film.  While it’s not an origin tale, TDK does deal with an important part of the Batman character, namely the issue of escalation and how to deal with it.  Under the Red Hood is similar in that it focuses on an important aspect of Batman, how he deals with his greatest failure, the death of Robin.  The film that doesn’t really tell us much about Batman is the second Burton directed picture, Batman Returns.  In that, the villains dominate the landscape and while we learn Bruce is a bit lonely, there’s not a whole lot there.  The lack of acting for the character is what drove Michael Keaton away from the role.  The film is still entertaining, but the definitive Batman?  No way.

The next one to fall out of contention is Under the Red Hood.  While it does a good job of combining aspects of classic tales like A Death in the Family and The Killing Joke, it doesn’t quite hit it out of the park.  The mystery of the film is solved pretty quickly by anyone with half a brain, but the climax of the film is pretty spectacular, it’s the getting to that point that is less so.  The film kind of meanders a bit and stalls out before recovering.  I also felt that there could have been even more exposition on the part of Batman and insight into how he coped with Robin’s death.  It’s a good film, and wonderfully animated, and it was also nice to see some new voice actors take on Batman and the Joker.  It is not, however, the definitive Batman movie.

And then there were four…

I did a rather exhaustive review on Batman several months ago.  To summarize, I found it to be a good film that had an interesting take on the character.  This Batman was more vengeful and less honorable than other portrayals.  And while the Joker may have dominated a large chunk of the movie, Batman’s origin story was presented well, though with the odd twist that the Joker was the man responsible for the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne.  The film is also noteworthy for setting a few trends for later movies, namely the black armored costume worn by Batman.  The more realistic take would be used in every live-action film to follow, as would Batman’s arsenal of “wonderful toys.”

The only Batman film to receive two thumbs up by At the Movies with Siskel and Ebert. Surprised?

Mask of the Phantasm may be the most criminally under-appreciated Batman movie of all time.  For a long time, the hardcore crowd would cite this as their favorite Batman movie and it also received a two thumbs up approval from critics Siskel and Ebert.  It was released on the big screen, and had modest success.  It told another version of Batman’s origin, and even showed us how close Bruce came to giving up the cape and cowl in a truly great scene where he falls to his knees at his parents’ grave begging for forgiveness.  His motivation is for love, as he tells his parents he never expected to be happy again when he made the promise to avenge their deaths.  Unfortunately for Bruce, as is often the case, things don’t work out with his love interest.  All of these details are presented through flashbacks as Batman tries to figure out the identity of a new villain, the mysterious Phantasm.  I have some complaints with the film, but they’re mostly superficial.  One is the Phantasm doesn’t have a very strong presence in the film, but that’s mostly due to time constraints.  Another is that the animators take a lot of liberties in how the Phantasm is portrayed in order to protect the character’s identity.  The reveal scene comes across a little funny as a result.  Mostly though, the film just plain works and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are forever etched into my brain as the voice of Batman and Joker.  There’s also a different take on the Joker’s origin shown which is kind of cool.  Or at least, it shows the Joker before he became the Joker.

Batman Begins is the much celebrated beginning of the Christopher Nolan trilogy set to conclude with The Dark Knight Rises next summer.  If Burton’s Batman could be criticized for focusing too much on the Joker, Nolan’s could be criticized for not establishing a truly compelling villain for Batman to battle.  The origin presented is exhaustive and focuses on all of the aspects the other films ignored.  This mostly included Bruce’s training in the far east under Ra’s al Ghul and his early exploits in the Batman costume.  We get to see everything that lead to Batman’s creation with an incredible attention to detail.  Nolan covers everything, and Christian Bale helps erase the stain of George Clooney (though I still prefer Keaton).  As I mentioned though, the villains come up a bit short and I’ve never really been sold on the Tumbler as the new Batmobile.  As an origin tale though, it is perhaps unrivaled.

"Bat voice" aside, Bale has proven himself a capable Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight is without question Batman’s greatest box office triumph.  Most of the films based on Batman have done well, but nothing like The Dark Knight.  A lot of that success is due to Heath Ledger’s Joker, a truly charismatic and effective portrayal of the clown prince of crime that delighted seemingly everyone.  It’s hard to imagine that people were wondering if he could top Nicholson’s Joker, but Ledger practically erased that character from existence.  The movie is big, and the plot remains interesting through to the end.  There are some minor quibbles to be had though.  One, Bale’s “bat voice” seems worse this time around compared with Begins.  It’s distracting and should be axed for the new movie.  Another is the rush-job placed on Two Face.  Such a great villain really deserved his own film.  The portrayal wasn’t bad, but felt wasted.  As a Batman character study, we see just how far the character will go and what ends justify the means.  It raises good questions about just how intimidating Batman can be when he’s not willing to really bust up the bad guys.

Another worthy debate, best Joker: Nicholson, Ledger, or Hamill?

Four great films, and not just great Batman films at that.  How do I narrow it down from here?  It won’t be easy as an argument can really be made for each, but one to me clearly has the weakest argument of the four.  Three of these films deal with Batman’s origin story, and the one that comes up short is the inaugural Batman from 1989.  This origin story was unique, for sure, but the changes made don’t really suit the character.  I’m talking mostly about the whole Joker as the killer angle.  It helped add more emotion to the main conflict of the film, but forced the film into killing off Batman’s greatest villain!  A true shame as the sequels could have used him, though Warner Brothers likely had zero interest in paying Nicholson for a sequel.  It was a good movie for the time and integral in moving Batman away from his more kid-friendly persona established by the television series, but it’s been topped.

As great as The Dark Knight is, I’m afraid it too has to go.  If we’re looking to establish what is the definitive Batman film, I feel an origin story is always going to have a leg-up on anything else.  Something emotionally heavy like the death of Robin could perhaps have trumped it, but not the death of Rachel Dawes.  A fantastic film and one of my all-time favorites, but it’s not the definitive Batman film.

So that leaves two.  The animated and surprisingly emotive Mask of the Phantasm and the fantastic rebirth of the character in Batman Begins.  Mask of the Phantasm has the whole animation stigma working against it.  I personally view both mediums with equal weight, but it can’t be ignored that the animation isn’t particularly jaw-dropping.  What works for TV is a little less impressive on the big screen.  Still, the animators do a great job of portraying emotion and the quality of the voice acting is phenomenal.  Begins has a strong cast, and features great direction.  The origin of Batman is extremely well told, as is the origin for soon to be Commissioner Gordon.  It’s unfortunate how The Dark Knight kind of overshadows it now, as I’ve rarely had a better movie going experience than when I watched this one for the first time.

I suppose the easy way out would be to say there are two definitive Batman movies, one live action and one animated.  There’s no conclusion in that though, and I hate cop-outs.  Maybe it’s the contrarian in me, but I feel the definitive Batman film is…

Mask of the Phantasm.

The origin story is perfectly told, not in terms of specificity but in how it shapes the Batman character.  It is the only Batman movie to effectively use a romantic interest for Bruce that enhances the picture, and doesn’t feel like something that was included because a director felt Batman needed a love interest.  And as much as I like Begins, I’m not sure I ever truly buy into the fact that I’m watching Batman.  When I watch Mask of the Phantasm though, I know I’m watching Batman.  Animated or not, this is Batman how he’s supposed to be and if you’ve ignored this movie or forgotten about it, you’re missing out.

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