A Hidden Gem: 2011 Thundercats Reboot

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

80s nostalgia seems to be a huge selling point these days with the sucess of films like Ready Player One, and shows that have rebooted old programs like Voltron: legacy Defenders, retro nostalgia is very clearly a viable market right now. With that being said, a few months ago they announced a Thundercats reboot called Thundercats: Roar and the first looks have been met with mixed reception to put it lightly. With that in mind, I was going through my VRV account to find something new to watch, and what should appear but something that I had all but forgotten about. Back in 2011 Cartoon Network aired an anime style reboot of Thundercats, so I figured, why not go back and watch. Well, what I was not disappointed because Thundercats was a phenomenal reboot that deserved to continue.

What's most impressive about this show is the way that they took the initial story of Thundercats, and threw it out to create something new and unique. It didn't try to strattle itself down to being a successor so much as made leaps and strides into making it something on it's own. Now don't get me wrong, that's not to say that it doesn't FEEL like Thundercats. They've got the things that made the original show iconic as it was, the epic fights, but most importantly we get to hear "THUNDER! THUNDER!! THUNDERCATS! HO!!!" once more as we get to see Liono and his team fight back the forces of Mum-Ra. What's even better is that they do a very clever job of finding a unique way to pass the torch down from its predecessor to it.

The first episode is actually a 2 parter called "Sword of Omens," where we see a Liono who kinda has his heads in the clouds on these "myths" of technology. He is heir to the throne and his lack of commitment to that responsibility is something that constantly infuriates his father, King Claudus. Who should voice King Claudus other than Larry Kenny, the voice of the original Liono. Throughout the episode we get to hear the old Liono show his successor the power of the sword and through this we get to see the torch passed from one generation to the next to kick off the series.

I won't say anything else on the plot of the show, I don't want to spoil anything for those who are curious. However, story is just one thing that makes this show worth while. The animation and effects of the show are beautiful and show just how much care this team had in bringing this old IP some new life. The new character models for Liono and his colleagues, for Mum-Ra, all of it is just a universal upgrade, and the show is accompanies by a great score that successfully captures the epicness of this tale. Voice talent on this show is also off the charts, where we have already talked about Larry Kenny as Claudus, Will Friedle (Boy Meets World, Batman Beyond) voices Liono, and he is accompanied by other talents such as Matthew Mercer (Attack on Titan, and Dragon Ball: Super) as Tygra, and at his opposite you have Robin Atkin Downes (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes) as Mum-Ra.

Thundercats is a brilliantly done reboot, and it's a shame that a show like this existed just before it's time. Had this show even come out 5 years later, following the success of Dreamworks and Netflix's Voltron: Legacy Defenders, this would have easily been a smash hit. Sadly, we must deal with the very disappointing looking Thundercats: Roar! Until then though, you can check out Thundercats on the VRV app created by Crunchyroll.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we hope you have enjoyed and we will see you next time!

DC Animation Is Back On Top With 'Death of Superman'

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

When I was growing up there was a golden rule of sorts: "if it's DC and it's animated, you're in for a treat!" This rule has held true for most of my life. From classics like Batman: Mask of Phantasm to newer additions like Justice Leauge: Flashpoint Paradox, DC had set the universal gold standard of the animated adaptation. This held true until around 2011 when they introdued us to a new animated universe designed to emulate DC's failed New 52 relaunch. Starting with Justice League: War these films began to dip in quality from decent to okay, okay to mediocre, and in some cases like Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, just plain abysmal. It had gotten to a point for me personally where I had lost any enthusiasm I had for these features, which finally brins us to the topic of this piece. Last week DC released their latest animated feature: Death of Superman.

Now when the first advertisements of this were released, I was pessimistic to put it lightly. Due to a very disappointing track record of late, I was convinced this film would be garbage. The only evidence I really even needed to vindicate these feelings was that rather than adapting the story straight from the 1980s iconic storyline by Dan Jurgens, they would instead remodel the story to fit in their New52 AU. However, there were two things that convinced me to give this film a chance, first was that a facebook group called the DC Comic Nerds (a page that I have a good deal of respect for) gave it a glowing review, but more importantly they brought to my attention that the screenplay of this feature was written by Peter Tomasi.

For those of you who aren't big comic readers, and haven't followed me since I was with moviepilot, Peter Tomasi was the writer of the Rebirth title of Superman. Now this run has a bit of a personal significance for me. When I was a writer for moviepilot, I wrote a review of the second issue of this run lauding it for it's ability to show Superman struggle with the role of fatherhood. This piece is, to date, probably my favorite piece I have ever written, and apparently I wasn't the only one who liked it as moviepilot found the piece good enough to edit and publish directly to their facebook page (it got over 7,000 reads). It was the first piece I recieved any acclaim for and is the reason I got heavily involved into blogging. The point is, that if it weren't for Peter Tomasi and his run on Superman, I might not have this blog right now, and you wouldn't be here reading, so at the very least I owed the film a watch for his sake. What's more is that I loved it.

Leave it to Peter J. Tomasi, the man who rejuvinated Superman after his New 52 slump, to bring life back to the animated films of DC. Tomasi constructs a story that keeps the general feel of the iconic storyline while simultaneously improving uopn it at times. The film's action is intense and the emotions are all over the place as you watch the man of steel struggle with his most deadly foe we've ever seen in both books and cinema. Doomsday's build up throughout the film is akin to a horror movie monster, and his power is enhanced even more by taking on an A tier Justice League as opposed to the B squad from the book. While Clark's dynamic with Lois is different as well, the way Tomasi handles their story is beautiful and brilliant. It really just shows how much this guy loves writing Superman and the universe around him.

I honestly would give the film a solid 9 out of 10. The movie does a great job of not only telling this story, but providing the set up for the follow up: Reign of the Superman by using cameos to establish and show the pertinent characters that are going to be the centerpiece of the next film. It's good to be able to recommend a DC animated feature again!

I hope you enjoy the movie, and I hope you enjoyed this edition of Comic Relief! 

Sony Cripples 'Venom' Even More

Welcome back to another editon of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Welcome back, it's been a minute and for that I must apologize, however, there has been a lot going on in the past few weeks and there have been a lot things going on in the nerd world. Don't worry my team (yes I said team, but more on that later) and I are coming back in force to bring you new content! Speaking of which, a few weeks back, Sony gave us a new look at their upcoming Venom movie. Let's check it out below:

Now a little while back I wrote a piece talking about how Venom was doomed to fail, however, this trailer did get my hopes up. While I am not too crazy about Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock being written as an honorable, whistle blowing, government conspiracy theorist, nor the motivations of the film's villain, I did like seeing Venom in action. Seeing Tom Hardy transform into an 8ft tall behemoth thats ripping people to shreds with tendrils and trying to bite peoples heads off was great. Even the way Venom speaks had me sold. I was finally starting to come around to maybe giving this film a fair chance. However, without fail, Sony found a way to nuke this project before ANY hype could be built back from the films lackluster promotion.

Despite giving us this brilliantly gritty trailer, and several promises from both the Director of this film AND Tom Hardy, Sony is dropping the rating down from an R to PG-13, claiming to be pushing the very limits of the rating. Why do this, is a question many would ask and the answer is kind of ironic. They want the film to have crossover potential in the future with Tom Holland's Spider-Man. This is genuinely hilarious considering how much of a big deal they made about a Venom film not needing Spider-Man, yet now they are doing everything in their power to ensure the characters meet on screen. So why the sudden change of heart? The answer is numbers.

While box office projections are no guaranteed thing, generally they do a pretty good job of showing how people are going to respond to the film, taking in account the hype behind the film, and how it would be affected in the best case scenarios. Let's just say, Venom is not looking so hot. To put it in perspective, Solo: A Star Wars Story, a film that is tracking to lose 50 million at the box office and had barely 3 months of promo, made 140 million on opening weekend, has made 450 million domestic and 940 million worldwide. Sony's Venom is projected to have an opening weekend of 60 million, finish it's box office run with 180 million domestic, and 400 million worldwide. This is tiny money for a big budget super hero film. (Source: IMDB ).


I said it in my last article and I'll say it here too, this movie will be a win, win scenario for fans. If this movie is good and does well, fans will have a great Venom movie that brings the charactr to the big screen in an amazing way that will make everyone forget the disaster of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. In the worst case, Sony will lose so much money that their very dumb plan for their own Spider-Man universe (without a Spider-Man) will fail and it will force the company to sell the rights to pay the dividends.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you all have enjoyed and we will see you next time!