Vixen (CW Seed) review

So, with the Flash and Arrow successes for the CW, they decided to take on another DC property, Vixen. Now Vixen isn’t really all that active in comics as of the New 52. She had a brief stint in the Justice League International where she was rendered comatose and her most recent mention was as potential recruit for the main Justice League. I’ve been reading the league since the DCYou and I can tell you she’s not currently a member as they’re more interested in other elements such as the dynamic with Lex Luthor as a member, the ongoing war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor and the various players assembled for that, not to mention the new Power Ring.

But I’m going off track. What I’m saying is, Vixen is not a high profile character among the likes of Green Arrow and the Flash. So this may be an odd choice but her power-set is largely magic based, a portion that has not really been explored before, so there’s opportunity for it. This is done is animation as opposed to live action and it’s honestly not something I have a problem with. Given Vixens power-set of calling upon powers of the animal kingdom it would take a lot of special effects to put this into motion in live action, and whilst they have managed to do a lot with the special effects in the Flash, Vixen is a different game entirely.

But of course animation isn’t cheap and the CW knows that Vixen doesn’t have the fan-base of Green Arrow or the Flash. So these animated shorts provide a sort of test run for the character, giving the basics of the character, adding some cameos from Arrow and the Flash whilst also providing a decent flowing narrative.

Because of the shorts only being 5-7 minutes long, I didn’t see the point in reviewing them individually. So let’s dig into Vixen and see whether the CW really has something here.

4 issue Test #9 - Black Canary

Black Canary is a title I picked up because it looked like a fun read, I have little if any affection for the character of Black Canary. outside of her being a Justice League member and her being Laurel on Arrow (oh boy…). Not that I dislike the character and I can't deny her bad-assness, she just didn't grab my attention, especially as I'm fairly recent into comics, while before I only purchased the odd trade. But with the DCYou launching, let’s take a look at Black Canary and see what we’ve got with this one

Doctor Who Series 9 episode 2 review - The Witch's Familiar

Not really got any introductory blurb for this one so... Let's take a look

Editorial: 5 things I want to see in Batman and Robin Eternal

Batman Eternal; I did a 4 issue test on the series in January (despite the fact the 4th issue came out in April the year before, before I even started this blog) it was a good story but it's focus on the plot and big reveals whilst character work was limited to only Batman, Julia Pennyworth, Spoiler and Jim Gordon (with a few sprinkles for Batgirl and the Red Hood) preventing me from calling it a great story. Next month, a new series of Batman Eternal is coming out, titled Batman and Robin: Eternal focusing more on the family of Batman than Batman (who is now Jim Gordon in a stupid robot bat-suit)

So, what needs to happen in this 6-month weekly series to improve upon it's predecessor, here are my 5 suggestions

4 issue test #8 - Starfire

After DC’s half-assed event Convergence (which was really only there as DC was moving to a new office, although some of the tie ins were good) DC brought us the DCYou, a launch of several new titles with intent of adding diversity to the range. Also as part of this there’s a new semi-existent continuity where some books would exist as part of a wider universe and some would exist in a continuity bubble of their own. I do get why continuity can be a creative problem, especially given DCs line of editorial interferences of late. I don’t see why it’s good for a reader. A good comic should not need you to know masses of information to understand it, removing continuity entirely is only a big FU to the fans of the original continuity as a lot of books are rendered pointless.

OK, I’m going off track a bit. I don’t like the idea of the New52, sure some decent books came out of it, but most wouldn’t have been entirely impossible if it were in the old continuity. Plus continuity became an absolute mess with writers not sure what has and hasn’t happened and as a reader that made me more confused. If you’re gonna reboot, do it with full heart and start over entirely, don’t try and fit events that are convenient into the mix for the sake of it.

But I have tried a few issues of the DCYou, and over the next few weeks they will undergo the 4 issue test. Starting up, we have Starfire

Starfire had been badly treated as part of the reboot. Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 is a disgrace and is a sign of a writer who didn’t care about her character and just made her a sex object. I heard they tried to backtrack on this in later issues but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was in response to the fan outrage rather than pre-planned. So, when the DCYou came around, she ditched Red Hood and Arsenal and migrated to her own book.

Before I start I should mention DC’s Divergence line. It’s basically a set of prequel issues that were released online and contained within several Convergence tie-in issue. It’s my opinion that these should not count as part of this review. A #1 issue shouldn’t require supplementary material so that you understand it. With that said, let’s dig into Starfire #1-4 and we’ll see what we have.

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 1 review - The Magician's Apprentice

Doctor Who is back on the telly with a 9^th season. With Peter Capaldi in the chair as the Doctor, Jenna Coleman playing Clara and Missy being back as well, we’re in for a wild ride.

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season 2 Episodes 21-26

#28 - Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

So, Fantastic 4 may have sucked but it made money so the inevitable sequel came out, and it sucks.

Released in 2007, this film managed only 37% on Rotten tomatoes and made $280m on it’s $130m budget, which is still more than the current movie is likely to make.

So I ask what makes a good comic book adaptation? Comic books characters have decades of history behind them making it quite difficult to come up with an idea that embraces the feel and spirit of the characters whilst also being unique in its own way. The biggest difference between a comic book adaptation and a book adaptation is the fact the story is (to an extent at least) completely original, it just stars the characters from the comic book.

Capturing the tone and feel of the characters is a struggle because the tone and feel of characters have changed over time through retcons and alternate universes. This is why I really didn’t mind the fact they went for the ultimate universe origins for the Fantastic 4 in their latest release, it makes sense to not re-tread old ground and release the same origin, like they did with Spider-man. (Spider-man’s origins in the mainstream and ultimate universe are pretty similar)

I don’t have a full answer for me take the cliff-notes versions of what the characters are like in the comics and craft a good story. The good story with well-paced and balanced action is key to a good superhero movie. Create a good dynamic between the characters and the rest will follow.

So, what goes wrong here? Let’s dive into Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer to find out.

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 16-20

Editorial: 5 things I'd like to see in Star Wars Rebels season 2

With Star Wars Rebels returning in October, I'd like to do an editorial I've wanted to do for a while but never got around to. What I'd like to see in the new season of the show. For this list I have not re-watched every episode of the series, so I may get a few details wrong

#27 Fantastic 4

Oh boy, what was Marvel like before the cinematic universe, we had the Aang Lee Hulk movie, which sucked, we Spider-man movies which… in my personal opinion, sucked. Then we have the x-men movies produced by Fox. I confess I have not seen them, my love of Marvel started with the Avengers. (Maybe we’ll do a theme month with them, god knows there’s enough of them) so, Fox has a decent-ish record with the X-men, time to reboot the other marvel property they own, the Fantastic 4.

I’ll get to the new one when it comes out on DVD, there’s plenty to go through and to be honest, it’s worse than either of these but… that doesn’t stop them from being bad. Fox had gained the rights to Marvel’s characters in the 1990s and they would retain them as long as they keep making movies about them, the first one was made in 1994, but it was never released. Risking losing the rights back to Marvel, they decided to make another attempt for release in 2005

The film was financially successful, making $330m on its $100m budget, but gained a pretty poor critical response, only rated 27% on rotten tomatoes. This lead to it’s equally sh*tty (although in a very different way) sequel in 2007. But that’s for next week, let’s dig into to Fantastic 4.

I’ll be looking at the extended addition because that’s what I’ve got on my DVD.

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 11-15

#26 Green Lantern

It’s 2011, Marvel’s cinematic universe is finding its footing and is approaching an Avengers movie, so it’s finally time for DC Comics to bring one of its most beloved characters to the big screen.

No, not that one (again), we’re working on one for next year though

No, not that one either, it’ll be 2 years before we see him again

A girl as a star of a superhero movie? Please… She’ll have to wait 5 years before she even gets a supporting role in a superhero movie.

Oh no…

DC’s reputation with comic book movies had suddenly rocketed back with the release of the Dark Knight, the best Batman movie and one of my personal favourite movies. So maybe now’s the time to try and make a movie with another character. Unfortunately they picked this one

That’s not to say I dislike Green Lantern in the comics but Green Lantern is a sci-fi series with a lot of lore and backstory

I mean let’s try and sum up Batman’s origin in a single sentence

His parents were killed so he gets trained up and fights crime wearing a ‘terrifying’ bat-suit

Superman?

His planet was destroyed so he grew up in Kansas, learning American values; he gains powers from the sun and fights crime.

Wonder Woman?

She’s the son of Ares, or maybe Zeus and she was modelled from clay and erm… OK, bad example

But Hal Jordan

He’s a pilot who’s kind of a jerk who receives a ring from a dying alien named Abin Sur; he takes the ring, which is fuelled by his willpower and becomes a space-cop of his sector 2814 under the watching of the guardians of the universe; he’s trained by Sinestro and Kilowog and then starts fighting crime.

See my point? Green Lantern is far better suited for something that can reveal it’s lore and back story a bit more slowly, such as an animated series (a live action series could be costly given the amount of CGI required for it)

Oh you have got to be… Yes, for those who don’t know, the exceptionally good Green Lantern: The Animated series met it’s end not because of low viewership or bad writing, no, it met it’s end because this movie was so bad kids wouldn’t buy Green Lantern toys, making toy stores lose any confidence in buying Green Lantern animated series toys. Well done movie, when your sh*t sinks, it drowns others in its wake.

Made with a $200m production budget, the movie barely made that making $220m at the box office, considering another $100m went into advertising this stinker, that’s a pretty bad performance.

The movie wasn’t greatly received gaining 26% rotten tomatoes and 39/100 on Metacritic. And it totally deserves that rating.

I know what you’re thinking, this is an a**-numbingly long opening to a review, can you just get on with it? Well let’s dive in