REVIEW: Man of Steel

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Uncle Critic

man-of-steel-poster2Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300, Dawn of the Dead) attempts to reboot the Superman movie franchise with Man of Steel. We haven’t had a great or even good Superman movie in a very long time and Snyder promised to deliver. I think I have to start out by saying I liked Watchmen, 300 and Dawn of the Dead a lot, those are the only Zack Snyder movies I’ve seen. On top of that Superman is my favorite super hero of all time. I think the fact that I like Superman so much is a good percentage of why I hated this movie so much. First the cast, which was mostly good. Henry Cavill, a guy that I’ve seen in nothing did a serviceable Superman, he wasn’t good, he wasn’t bad he was there. He looked good in the part but didn’t WOW me as Superman, as far as Clark Kent, more on that later. Amy Adams was Lois Lane, I love Amy Adams so much, she was a solid Lois Lane, not best ever but she was a quality Lane. Michael Shannon is a guy that is one of my favorite actors right now was a good Zod, again he didn’t WOW me in the part but he wasn’t bad. Diane Lane was a solid Martha Kent. Russell Crowe was Jor-El and Kevin Costner was Jonathan Kent, both were pretty underwhelming in these parts. I think I hated the way Jonathan Kent was written more than I did Costner played him. They made Pa Kent a fearful stupid hick without any of the down home country wisdom. Laurence Fishburne was Perry White I like Fishburne but it’s a big thumbs down on that one. The movie was over two and a half hours; there was no need for it to be that fucking long, especially since the first hour and a half was insanely boring. The CGI in the movie for the most part looked cartoony and bad, some of it was very good but bad CGI is always really bad. There are a ton of things that are so far wrong as far as the comic goes it’s insane. I don’t think anyone involved with this movie has ever read a Superman comic, the two things that stuck out the most for me were the fact that Lois just finds out who Superman is right from the start, hell reporter Clark Kent doesn’t even show up until the end. And Superman is a fucking murder in this movie. He’s not neck snapping Hal Jordon, he’s Superman, he doesn’t kill people so what the fuck was that?? The action scenes in the movie were awesome but they were far from enough to keep me from deeming this the worst Superman movie ever made.

Get Man of Steel from Amazon HERE

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REVIEW: Punisher and Batman: Deadly Knights

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Uncle Critic

Deadly KnightsPublished in 1994 and written by Chuck Dixon this is the second crossover with The Punisher and Batman, though the first involving Bruce Wayne. This takes place after the first crossover; they even reference the first involving Azrael a few times, though if you haven’t read it you’re not missing anything. It isn’t connected in anyway and that crossover wasn’t very good anyway. In Deadly Knights the Punisher heads back to Gotham to find Jigsaw. Jigsaw has his sights set on taking over some of the mob families in Gotham with the help of the Joker. This book does kind of setup the similarities between Batman and Punisher, there’s a ton of internal dialog for both characters however in the end Batman pretty much outclasses the Punisher in every way. Robin and Microchip are also in this one, though not for very long, they basically hack a computer and that’s it. The book is 52 pages and a good chunk of that is the shootout, it’s the longest one I can remember reading in a while, though I guess with the Punisher it makes sense. This is a decent read, much better than the first crossover but still overall it’s just eh. Kind of disappointing but still not bad. Unless you’re a super Punisher or Batman you probably don’t need to read it.

Get Punisher Batman: Deadly Knights from Amazon HERE

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REVIEW: Batman: The Killing Joke

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Uncle Critic

KillingjokeUnless you’re completely new to comics and/or Batman there’s a very good chance you’ve heard of The Killing Joke. It’s maybe the most infamous Batman and Joker story there is, and it’s only one issue. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland came together for this incredible, completely universe changing one shot in 1988 and the story and art still hold up today as one of the best ever. Before I get to the actual story I need to put some focus on Brian Bolland. The art in this book is incredible; it has some of my favorite Joker images of all time. Chances are if you haven’t read this book before, you’ve still seen some of the art from it; it’s really just some next level greatness stuff. Now as for the story it’s no secret that Alan Moore is a bit of a sicko nut job and I think that really helps when writing for the Joker. In this book the Joker escapes, this is only discovered when Batman comes to visit and try to talk some sense into him because he realizes their relationship will most likely end with one of them dead. Now the Joker is on the loose and no one knows where he is. That doesn’t stay that way for long, soon the Joker arrives at Commissioner Gordon’s house, his daughter Barbara is there (at the time she was also Batgirl). There’s a knock on the door, Barbara assumes it’s a friend of hers and opens it…the Joker simply shoots her in the spine. Ending the career of Batgirl. Jim Gordon is beaten up and kidnapped. Now Batman needs to find the Joker with rising urgency. Finally the two meet, the Joker reveals all this has just been a plot to prove a point that anyone can go insane if they have a bad day, this theory he’s trying to prove by driving Jim Gordon mad. A lot of this is intertwined with the origin story of the Joker, a thing that is worth owning this book for alone because it’s great all on its own. As you expect Batman has saved the day at the end, though not before a lot of permanent damage was done to the DC universe. If you’re a fan of Batman there’s basically no way you shouldn’t have read this already, if you’re just getting into comics or Batman this should be very high on your must read list. It shows the complete insanity of the Joker, along with where he started and it had ramifications in comic books for many years to come. One of the best single issues of a comic ever written.

Get The Killing Joke from Amazon HERE

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REVIEW: Batman: Cacophony

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Uncle Critic

batman-cacophony-001Cacophony is a three part Batman title written by Kevin Smith, it’s got art by Walt Flanagan, and it’s pretty great. It came out in 2008-2009 so this was before you had to worry about the whole DC reboot thing. Say what you will about Kevin Smith as a movie man, like him or hate him (personally I like him) but there’s no denying that he’s great when it comes to comics. What we’ve got for this one is a bit of a big story with the joker and a new villain. Deadshot breaks into Arkham in an attempt to kill the Joker, he’s stopped by some other masked man and the Joker escapes. The Joker finds out that his Joker venom has been turned into a drug for club kids so he’s out for revenge on Maxie Zeus, the man behind that. As we go on Batman of course chases the Joker in an attempt to stop him and along the way he finds out that this mystery man is actually hunting him, he’s somewhat of a hero killer. Overall this is really good but it’s not without its faults. The faults aren’t many, first (and smallest) is this doesn’t really seem like a stand-alone story, this seems like something that should have just been written into Batman or Detective Comics but I guess that doesn’t really matter. The biggest fault is I think two issues was way too short for this, the second issue seems a little rushed, causing the last issue to kind of run out of steam, I think this would have worked much better if it had been stretched over five issues. However those complaints aside it’s a great story that reinforces how insane the Joker is while introducing a new villain into the mix and leaving a nice open end. Though really the best thing about this I think is the artwork. Walt Flanagan captures what I see in my mind when I think of most of these characters. The Joker is perfect, Gordon is great, Batman has (almost) my favorite costume design (it’d have been perfect if we got the yellow chest oval). Everything is just fucking perfect from a visual standpoint. The art is serious and gritty without being dark and gothic, I wish more Batman comics looked like this. If you’re a fan of Batman this story will sit nicely with you, it’s a great addition to the Batman world and if you’re one of those rare people just now looking to get into Batman this is a story that you can go into and enjoy without needing to know tons of Bat-back story. Highly recommended.

Get Batman: Cacophony from Amazon HERE

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REVIEW: National Comics – Rose and Thorn 01

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Uncle Critic

Rose+ThornThis is a one-shot from DC; it resurrects a character that I’ve actually never heard of, Rose and Thorn. She’s a girl that has a split personality, kind of a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type thing. Rose wakes up one day in her house, she’s covered in blood and has a new tattoo, and she remembers none of this. As she makes her way through her school day she starts to fill in holes of what happens it seems that her other self, Thorn came out last night and had a hell of a time. By the end of the book Thorn reveals to Rose her plans of revenge. This seems like the start of a series (one that I’d read for sure) but it being a one-shot it really seems to go nowhere. I really hope DC picks this up and runs with it.

Get National Comics: Rose and Thorn #1 from Amazon HERE

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