Tuesday 28 February 2017

Editorial: My thoughts on Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2


So season 1 was an impressive outing for Voltron: Legendary Defender, season 2, which came out earlier this year had a lot to live up to, did it succeed, here's my take.

Sunday 26 February 2017

4 issue test #39 - Teen Titans (DC Rebirth)

Yes, I know it's another cheat but they use the same logo and this review's late already

It’s DC Rebirth Time again!

I’d previously reviewed a Teen Titans book, it was one of my earliest reviews of this format. It… wasn’t great really, I did drop the book after the 4th issue and even though a couple of ideas tossed did gain my attention, it was never really enough to bring me back in.

But DC Rebirth has shone a new light on the Titans with a new creative team and a new roster. In the writer’s chair is Ben Percy, who is also tackling the Green Arrow books and with artists… well, there are quite a few of them. The roster, I’ll cover in the description since the first issue is primarily about getting everyone together. Speaking of which, let’s get to it.

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode 16 review - Legacy of Mandalore

We return to Star Wars Rebels


Following a brilliant episode was a long wait, but the wait’s over, Rebels is back and with a follow up episode to the near-perfection that proceeded, how bad is it gonna look in comparison?

Sunday 19 February 2017

Editorial: My thoughts on Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1


Voltron Legendary Defender was initially released on Netflix in July last year. But its roots go back to an anime called Go-Lion, created the animated devision of the company that produces sentai shows, footage from which is used in Power Rangers. The original Voltron series was a dubbed version of Go-Lion, with new bits of animated footage to tone down a few elements and make the odd change, here and there. Legendary Defender is ultimately a reboot of that series, but instead of using footage from a Japanese anime, they're using one of the great animation studios, Studio Mir, the studio that did the vast bulk of Korra. Combine them with an animation powerhouse like Dreamworks and... here's what we get.

Tuesday 14 February 2017

4 issue test #37 - Jessica Jones

Next and actually last in the Marvel now stuff is Jessica Jones, a title I specifically picked up because of the Netflix series, for those wondering my opinions on DD season 2 and Luke Cage. I thought DD started strong but ultimately went off track around the half-way mark and was overly depressing and Luke Cage was average if not a little higher.
I know I'm cheating a little with this image but... I also don't care
Writing this comic is Brian Michael Bendis, who’s writing Spider-man which somehow I’m still reading and Civil War II, which was utter utter utter utter sh*t (see my recent editorial). So yeah, Bendis is hit and miss with me and mostly miss but the was the one responsible for the interpretation of Jessica Jones the Netflix series was adapted from so maybe he’s struck again, let’s take a look.

Sunday 12 February 2017

Editorial: My thoughts on Civil War II

You've heard me talk about this one in a few reviews but given that my Next review, Jessica Jones, has significant links to this event, or at least a particular aspect of it, it's time to give my thoughts in full.



Thursday 9 February 2017

4 issue test #36 - Champions


OK Marvel, we need to talk. In 2015 you did Secret Wars III, in 2016 you did Civil War II because the movie was coming out and in the wake of that, you’ve done a relaunch, only a year after the last one! Marvel Now (yet another recycled title) launched a few new titles with new creative teams. Unlike with DC Rebirth and the last Marvel relaunch, I’ve been more cautious picking new titles. There are only 2 I plan to cover. One is Jessica Jones (next week my friends) we also have Champions

And yes, it’s another title with the younger Avengers written by Mark Waid, who was less than impressive with his All New All Different Avengers title. But Waid still has some residual goodwill from Archie to allow me to give this a fair shot. Is it worth the read? Let’s take a look

Tuesday 7 February 2017

Editorial - My thoughts so far on Wabbit: A Looney Tunes production


So, The Looney Tunes show was an attempt to write the Looney Tunes in a suburban, almost sitcom-esque setting. The animated factor allowed them to incorporate more ludicrous scenarios you couldn't have in a regular sitcom. The humour was hit and miss to say the least, some jokes worked and some jokes just left you groaning.

The argument is clear that a lot of characters felt overly-domesticated. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck living in a house, Speedy running a Pizza place, Taz being a pet, Gossamer being a regular kid who just looks like a monster, Elmer being a weather reporter and so on and so forth. In short, the classic feel of the Looney Tunes felt lost. But if you look past those there are some classic dynamics, Tweety and Sylvester are largely unharmed and the Wile E Coyote and Road Runner shorts, whilst not brilliant, at all, at least tried to capture the old feel.

The show ended after 2 seasons and out came a TV movie called Rabbit's Run. I'm still considering a review of this sh*tpile. In my opinion it encompasses the worst of the Looney Tunes show.

Wabbit: A Looney Tunes production was intended to create something more akin to a classic Looney Tunes short. The run-time was cut, each short being 5 minutes and paired up to create an 11-minute episode. But did it work? Here are my thoughts.

Saturday 4 February 2017

4 issue test #35 - Blue Beetle

 

If there’s one thing I learned from watching Young Justice: Invasion again is that Jaime Reyes is a fascinating character. Well, that coupled with Linkara’s retrospective on the character last year.

He hasn’t had a great history in comics, both his series were cancelled due to low sales but they’re trying again, but they have a new gimmick. Ted Kord, the previous incarnation of the Blue Beetle made his reappearance in the New52, his father was killed by Lex Luthor in the opening issue. Well, technically he was blackmailed and the crime syndicate killed him whilst Luthor ignored him but semantics. Anyway, Ted Kord was a Blue Beetle in previous continuity but it appeared that they’d retconned it, especially given how young he was in that.

Speaking of continuity, far as I can tell, this book brushes the previous Blue Beetle continuity under the rug and sets it on fire for good measure. Given what I’ve heard about it, I’m not sad about that. We have a fresh start; can they make good on it? Let’s take a look.