'Titans' Iniitial Reaction Round-up

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

As Venom is busy floundering due to all of it's negative reviews (our own review will be up here soon, expect it Sunday), New York Comic Con has begun, and two days ago during a press conference release at NYCC, the DCU panel shared the first 3 episodes of their launching exclusive show: Titans. Now Titans has been a subject of great controversy since the first set photos were released almost a year ago. The aesthetic of the team has been criticized for it's cheap look and it's little regard to follow ANY piece of source material for the team in existence. Because of this a lot of people, myself included, were not willing to give Titans a fair shake. Yesterday, the reviews for Titans came out, and those of us who doubted the series found our worlds turned upside down as the response to those 3 episodes were mostly positve. However, while I was reading these positive reviews, I found something very interesting that seemed to be recurring throughout every official review I read.

When I first noticed it, I was reading the Forbes review. I wanted to read a positive review of Titans from a magazine I know has critically panned pretty much anything DC has done lately outside of Wonder Woman. While Forbes definitely sings the show's praises, there was one note that drew my attention:

Titans is a dark and gritty series very far removed from the image the Teen Titans have garnered through a variety of animated outings over the last decade...It’s an image of these heroes many are going to find jarring and possibly even failing...Put bluntly, this is not a show with broad appeal. Not everyone is going to want to see what became of the likes of Robin and Raven through this lens. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it does mean it’s different, and it’s hard to judge how far outside the lines fans wanted DC to go for not only their first original program on the streaming service but also the first project to bring many of these characters into the world of live action.

Essentially Forbes' comment can be simplified to this. This show isn't Teen Titans, at all. In fact if you go into this show hoping for any semblance of the Teen Titans you knew from the books, or the the animated series, there is a very good chance you will hate this show. That doesn't mean it is a bad show, it's a promising first few episodes, but it almost seems this would have been better suited  for a completely original IP with no strings attached, or that with it's direction it would have better suited a Red Hood and the Outlaws show (preferably following the most recent iteration of the Dark Trinity). What I found super interesting was that I found that pretty much every review I saw or read said the same thing.

The youtuber Beyond the Trailer, who also sings the show's praises, literally opens their review with the same thing (video above). She literally opens with: 

This show changes so much about the Titans, often at a fundamental level that it's really only these characters in name only. In fact while I was watching the first three episodes of the show, I wondered what drew Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, and Greg Berlanti to adapt this comic since apparently none of it inspired them and they felt was worth bringing over to the DC streaming show

In addition comic media outlet, CBR, had the same commentary in their review of the show's first three episodes, which they gave the rating of 7/10:

It’s dark, just as the trailers indicate, with a level of violence that races past anything on The CW’s Arrowverse and teeters into Zack Snyder-era DC Extended Universe territory. Heroes maim and kill, with some frequency, in the three episodes provided for review, although not always on purpose. It goes without saying, then, that Titans isn’t suitable for young viewers, who aren’t the target audience for this streaming service anyway. However, neither is the series aimed at fans of DC’s classic New Teen Titans, who will undoubtedly bristle at the tone and quibble with the characterizations, to say nothing of the lineup (a later episode is titled “Donna Troy,” which may salve that particular wound). Yet, for all of those caveats, there is something enjoyable about Titans.

It appears that Titans, though it may be a good show, is not an especially good Teen Titans EXPERIENCE, and that if you are a fan of these characters and expect them to be brought to life in a way that you would want them to be, you're in for a rough ride. This is only further vindicated by the one not only negative, but scathing review of the show that I have found so far done by Collider, where it was very clear that the author had done just that as he opens the review with this:

In DC Universe's 'Titans', Dick Grayson (Brandon Thwaites), stabs a guy in the balls with garden sheers. Unfortunately the powers that be say I have to write more than that sentence about 'Titans,' but I do truly think every aspect of this show -its tone, its aesthetic, its story, its themes- boil down to the image of Dick Grayson, the original Robin, Boy Wonder, charming vigilante do-gooder, plunging a gardening tool into a man's crotch... All put together, 'Titans' lands just about as gracefully as the Flying Graysons

 The author of this collider review continues to go on about the essential character assassination of these beloved characters. In particular he mentions Starfire's arc in these first three episodes:

Meanwhile, in a completely different show, Korriand'r wakes up bloody in a car outside Austria with no memory of who she is other than A) she has the ability become living flame, burning people to a crisp, and B) she is searching for Rachel (Raven). If you ever wanted to watch beloved DC comics character Starfire cut a bloody, amnesia-fueled killing spree across Central Europe, this is portion of the first few episodes of 'Titans' that will interest you. 

 All in all it seems that while the Collider may have hated the show, there is one thing that once again comes up in his review that is a constant in the other three:

The most baffling aspect of 'Titans' is the question of who exactly it's for. If you're a fan of the comics, or  -maybe even more likely- the animated series 'Teen Titans', or 'Teen Titans Go!', I can't see you enjoying 'Titans,' unless you ever felt compelled to accompany these characters to therapy during their downtime. 

Based off of everything I have seen in these reviews, the consensus is clear. Good show or not, I don't think that most people are going to actually enjoy this series. Teen Titans are beloved characters. People have wanted a live action rendition of them for so long. The fact that the producers of this show felt it wasn't especially important to keep these characters true to form is a slap in the face to the people who fell in love with these characters. Now, I have discussed this show with a lot of people, and a lot of people have accused me of wanting this show to fail. Well I honestly cannot deny that there is certainly a part of me that does. However, the thing that really irks me about this show is that I deserve better as a fan, WE deserve better. These characters are some of the most beloved in comics and they deserve to be treated with a measure of respect, and it's very clear that this show doesn't do that. Dick Grayson should NOT be murdering people, Starfire should NOT be burning people to a crisp. Raven should be controlling her abilities to show her inner strength as a character. Beast Boy should be green and be transforming into a lot more than a tiger. This is far from the best that DC can do with these characters, so I refuse to give it a pat on the back when I have seen the best of these characters on shows like Teen Titans and Young Justice.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you again soon!

MHA: Two Heroes Delivers Jaw Dropping Hero Film

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With lackluster looking films like Venom or X-men: Dark Phoenix being shoved down our throats, it can be difficult to find a breath of fresh air. Don't worry, everything is going to be okay because IT IS HERE! My Hero Academia's first feature film Two Heroes has arrived, and folks if there is any movie to wipe the thoughts out of bad super hero films away, this is it because not only is it amazing, it's probably one of the best superhero films I have seen in quite a while. It has been a long time since a super hero movie has made me leave the theater with that kind of energy. So let's talk about My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.

The title of the film is actually surprisingly layered. At first glimpse one would think that it's in reference to the series protagonist Izuku Midorya and his mentor/ predecessor of One for All, All-Might. While this is certainly the case, it equally represents the friendship of All-Might and his old partner while he was "heroing" in the States, David Stallion, as well as the rise of two heroes of the film: Midorya and David's daughter Melissa. However, I don't want to go so far as to spoil how the film accomplishes these things, so the synopsis is that All-Might has received an invitation by an old friend's daughter as a surprise to a MASSIVE tech expo on this place called I-Island. All-Might brings his protege along to meet an old ally in crime, but while things seem to be going well at the surface, something evil is brewing. A band of criminals led by a sinister villain takes the expo hostage and it's up to Midorya and some classmates that have also made it to the expo to free the heroes and allow them a chance to save the day.

It's hard to pinpoint an exact thing that makes this movie as good as it is. The animation allows for a better suspense of disbelief that you just don't get in live action, so over the top moments have a lot more weight to them. With the characters already established from the show, exiting character tropes from the series allow for jokes, drama, and action to have just as much impact as they do in the show's episodic format. However, I think what really punctuates the entire experience is the final action sequence. A while back I came upon a video that brought up some good points about the fights in My Hero Academia being a bit dull visually. That the fights were used as a means to expand the universe. However, in this final fight sequence we get some of the best animated fight choreography not only in this show, but in most modern anime I have seen. This movie finally gives a phenomenal look at just how much a force All- Might is to be reckoned with. While this is something that is shown throughout the movie, it is especially capitalized on in the final fight. I would say more but honestly, my words could not do it justice.

As with all things the movie isn't perfect, yet it's imperfections don't really take away from the experience. There are a few times where you scratch your head and go "why didn't they think of that earlier," but these moments aren't annoying enough to take away from the movie, and after all they are just heroes in training. The other thing I will say is that if you haven't watched the show up until this point, I don't recommend seeing it. It's not that you won't enjoy the film. The opening does a very good job of explaining the background of what has happened so far in the series, but it's not the same as taking the time to be invested in these characters and seeing individual arcs play out in this movie. In the end, while these faults are here none are enough to hurt the movie for me. I am someone who gets enthusiastic about films that I enjoy, and sometimes that enthusiasm can get in the way of giving an unbiased opinion. However, I feel that as long as you have watched the series through at least season 2, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is a solid 10/10 film, and to those without that context it would still be a solid 8.5 or 9/10.

Sadly, My Hero Academia Two Heroes has a limited release, so if you don't get a chance to see it in the next week or so, you'll have to wait until the film is released on DVD and Blu Ray, which I can only hope is within the year. If you haven't yet watched My Hero Academia, I highly recommend it and if you want some extra incentive here's a character analysis I did of one of the chief characters, All-Might.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you all again soon!

'Dark Phoenix' Trailer Previews a Potentially Better Rehash of 'Last Stand'

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

A long awaited, or dreaded moment happened yesterday. The first trailer for the last FOX installment of X-men: Dark Phoenix was dropped. This marks the seventh X-men movie that Fox has made, and the fourth in the line of films started by the reboot of X-Men: First Class. The movie is set to adapt the iconic Dark Phoenix storyline from the books (if the title weren't enough of a giveaway) for the second time in the franchise's history, the first being the ever infamous X-Men: Last Stand which killed the momentum of the initial franchise in the early 00's. Before going any further let's take a look at the trailer below:

While this trailer is not the absolute disaster I was expecting, it is still not great as actively nothing happens. It's intensity is only really held up by the two things that have held up the previous 3 films in the performances of James Mcavoy and Michael Fassbender. The voice overs they have in the trailer are testament to how good these two are in their respective roles and are the only thing we will actively be missing out on when the franchise is rebooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The rest of the trailer is pretty unspectacular as the X men costumes look very bland and cheap, and they still apparently haven't learned that not all bad guys should wear trench coats as both Jessica Chastain's character and Jean Grey sport them throughout the trailer. It seems that the only thing they have learned since Last Stand is that Jean Grey should get this power in a cosmic scenario and that having Cyclops be around while the love of his life becomes an uncontrollable and evil force hell bent on universal destruction could be an interesting angle for the character to have.

In addition to the recurring cast of the First Class films, it appears that we are adding even more characters (because that worked so well for Apocalypse) with introducing X-men Villains like Selene and we are getting overloaded with multiple stories once again as Magneto has apparently established Genosha in the time between Apocalypse and this film. Really guys? Just going to through Genosha under the rug like a second fiddle storyline? Didn't you learn anything by trying to slam M-Day alongside Phoenix? You don't combine MAJOR storyarcs, you can pepper in some minor story arcs to aid the primary, but you don't just say well Genosha's cool lets have it compete screen time with Dark Phoenix and vice versa. YOU GET ONE! Pick it and focus on it! 

Genosha: Mutant Paradise

Needless to say I don't have especially high hopes for this film. After X-Men: Apocalypse I have found my taste for Fox's X-men franchise to have soured. I am just eagerly waiting for Kevin Fiegie to slam the reset button over at Marvel the moment the ink dries on this merger. 

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you again soon!

Affleck Seen Entering WB With a Script and Matt Reeves Talks Up Batman

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

Before I get into this particular part, I made a promise during our Cavill-gate piece that I would bring you guys facts with quality written pieces, I am not breaking that promise today, but as a disclosure the first part of the article will deal with speculation BEHIND facts. Now that it's out there we can move forward. One of the biggest issues that the DCEU has faced since Batman vs Superman's release back in 2016 is the length of Ben Affleck's tenure as Batman. Every month it seems that there is some new rumor on the actor's status in the cowl. While there are many critics of the film BvS, Ben Affleck's performance was considered by many to be the film's silver lining, and so a lot of fans have hoped he retain the role till he could at least stay till he could do his own solo film. This solo Batman film has had quite the bumpy rode as it has shifted hands from initially being produced, directed, written, and starred by Ben Affleck, to be cowritten with Geoff Johns, to the initial script being scrapped and Matt Reeves replacing Affleck as the director. The whole process has been a mess and with the poor box office and critical reception to Justice League, a lot of people thought Ben Affleck was done for good, yet there may be hope on the horizon.

It has been reported that just yesterday, Ben Affleck was seen walking into Warner Bros headquarters with a script in hand. This is big news because just the day before WB announced that Matt Reeves' script was finished and that it was going into editing phase and that they were hoping to start production in the summer of 2019. While nothing is confirmed, this could be a very good sign for those of us who hope that Affleck will do Matt Reeves' film. Contract negotiations for Affleck were reported to begin around this time and with Affleck walking into the studio with script in hand, there is only so much room for coincidence you can allow before it becomes an issue of A+B=C. While I am not going to allow myself to get too hopeful, I will say that this is a promising sign and I do truly hope that Ben will stay with the role. That being said, whether Ben stays or goes we will more than likely have an announcement about who is playing Batman in the Matt Reeves film here before the end of the year as production is planned to begin by the summer time.

However, that is not the only Batman news that we have. As stated previously Matt Reeves has finished the initial script for his standalone Batman film and it is reported that Warner Brothers is singing it's praise far and wide. Since then he had an interview with IndieWire, in it Reeves reveals a bit about his inspiration for writing this movie, and it's good:

I think that it’s interesting, because one of the things that I’ve found interesting, just as we’re working on the story, is looking back at Jekyll and Hyde, and the idea of your shadow-self, and the idea of, we are all multiple things. It’s different aspects of who we are, and I think there are times when maybe the surface of Bruce is not really who he is, but that’s his disguise. There are times when Batman’s the disguise, but there are times when his true essence comes out, because by being veiled, a kind of instinctual side comes out that’s very pure.

Every time Reeves talks about this film it honestly gets me more excited. Back when he first took on this project he talked about the film being noir driven and that he was consulting old Alfred Hitchcock movies for inspiration. Honestly, if we do get Ben Affleck in this Matt Reeves Batman film I fully expect a movie that will blow the Nolan films out of the water. While those movies are great films, I find that the more times I watch them, the more I realize they aren't good Batman films. They share a very similar problem to the Sam Raimi Spider-Man franchise. They have Bruce be far more reluctant to be Batman, constantly looking for a way out of the role so he can be with one of the worst written love interests I have ever seen. It's just not an accurate portrait of who and what Batman is as a character. In that regard it is very clear that Matt Reeves has a far better understanding of what that character is than Nolan did, and I am very excited and anxious to see the finished product!

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again soon!

Heroes in Crisis: Tom King Spreads Mediocrity Beyond His Failing Bat-Title

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

If there is one comicbook writer that has more than earned the ire of comicbook fans in the past few months it's Tom King. While King had a lot of acclaim for his Mr Miracle book, his most notable work right now is the main Batman title that King has helmed since DC's 2016 soft reboot: DC Rebirth. King's quality of writing this book has alway fluctuated all over the place from some issues being worth their weight in gold, and others being worth their weight in fecal matter. That being said he pretty unanimously turned the entire community against him with the long awaited Wedding Issue of Batman #50 where after about a year of build up, King had Catwoman be a runaway bride and it was all a ploy by Bane. It is easily one of THE WORST issues of ANY comic I have ever read, and in all honesty it should have ended this man's career. However, instead he got handed a major crossover event because apparently there is no justice in this world. That crossover released it's issue one today, so let's talk Heroes in Crisis.

So the premise of this book had initially intrigued me when they released the synopsis some months ago: 

There’s a new kind of crisis threatening the heroes of the DC Universe, ripped from real-world headlines by C.I.A.-operative-turned-comics-writer Tom King: How does a superhero handle PTSD? Welcome to Sanctuary, an ultra-secret hospital for superheroes who’ve been traumatized by crime-fighting and cosmic combat. But something goes inexplicably wrong when many patients wind up dead, with two well-known operators as the prime suspects: Harley Quinn and Booster Gold! It’s up to the DC Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman to investigate—but can they get the job done in the face of overwhelming opposition?

The initial hooks that grabbed my interests were things like PTSD clinic for Super heroes for one. I thought as topical as a subject as PTSD is, it was surprising that noone had really done anything with PTSD in books outside of the obvious subjects like Punisher. In addition I love Booster Gold, and what's even more was that Tom King has written Booster before in a 3 issue side story of Batman and absolutely killed it. That being said, it is Tom King, so my level of enthusiasm wasn't sky rocketing, but I had a little hope. That was until I read issue 1 this morning, and dear god was it bad.

I would write down a bit about how the story of this comic book fit together throughout the issue, what it was setting up for, but honestly I can't because I have absolutely NO CLUE about what I just read. This issue was such a mess I had to set down my ipad for two minutes, walk around my apartment and come back to it because I felt like I was missing something MASSIVE. I just had no clue what was going on. While this kind of writing may work in a film where you start off clueless and then things are enlightened for you later on, it has an adverse effect in a major crossover event where things are supposed to be fairly linear. You are already juggling several protagonists, and their stories, we don't need a constant time jumps it's a headache. Beyond this issue being just a huge headache to read, it also kills off two fan favorite characters. If you care about spoilers beware, but the two fan favorites are posted in the image below:

Wally West and Roy Harper are Dead....

Wally West's Flash and Arsenal are dead, apparently of a shooting (a fact that we only know from the synopsis as the issue didn't bother to tell us a single damn thing), and what's worse is that this is actively all that we see. I mean we JUST got Wally back at the beginning of Rebirth. HE JUST CAME BACK. This is so cheap, and honestly I shouldn't be surprised, I should have seen this coming. What's even more tragic is that as bad as these deaths were, they weren't even the worst part of the book. The worst part of the book is how utterly useless all the main characters are and how out of character they are written. Harley Quinn, a liscensed Psychiatrist declares that she doesn't believe Trauma exists. Batman, a man with an IQ of 192 is written like a man with an IQ of 2. Superman, just sits down and cries a lot this issue. Wonder Woman is making jokes while examining murdered heroes, and Booster just gets stabbed by Harley Quinn a lot and acts mildly annoyed saying "Stooooopppppp!"

Needless to say this issue is not worth your time as it's only saving grace is some fairly decent artwork. Tom King if you are reading this,this is the second time you have ruined comics for me in the past few months. Please retire your pen and paper and fade away because DC was better off without you in it. You were a lackluster replacement for the Snyder/Capullo team on Batman, and now you are going out to ruin the rest of these books, so please, on behalf of every person who reads DC, just stop.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you again soon!

Titans: One Step Forward Two Steps Back

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

If there has been a single upcoming project that has personified the expression "out of the frying pan and into the fire," it''s the upcoming live action show Titans. The show is the premiere exclusive for DC's premium streaming app DC Universe. Ever since set photos leaked showing a rather lackluster look at the team almost a year ago, the show has been in an uphill struggle. At SDCC this year their situation was worsened by a trailer that upset most of the fanbase as it seemed the serieswas committing character assassination on the entire squad of the beloved super-team: The Teen Titans. The most notable instance was the horrible representation of Dick Grayson's Robin who sets the tone of the trailer by straight up murdering 6 people and punctuating the horror with "Fuck Batman." However, on Batman day this past week we got our first glimpse at Jason Todd interacting with Dick Grayson in the show and it delivered some of the first overall positive feedback:

This clip had even given me a glimmer of hope as I started to regain some interest in the show. The interaction between Jason and Dick felt organic and was just downright enjoyable. This minute long sneak peak at what I would see from these two actors in the show had me excited for exactly one minute. However, apparently the universe took action within a 60 second time period because it didn't take long for my hopes and dreams to be dashed upon the rocky shores of hopelessness that it is to be a fan of DC books. What could cause my hopes to come crashing down you may ask? Just look below:

It should be noted that this is a leak from a "report," so this costume has not been officially confirmed, but neither has it been denied to be official. That being said, given the cheap quality of everyone else's costumes in the cast, I am more inclined to believe that this is in fact the costume we will see Batman in the show. It's honestly infuriating that the production team would put so much effort into making Robin look fantastic, but decide to halfass everyone else's designs. This is supposed to be a cinematic quality show! Why does everything look like shit?! For all the problems DC has had in the cinematic department, they have never once caused fans a reason to doubt the dedication they have to these characters because at least their designs were on point.

Following this whole show has honestly been a disheartening experience. I had some serious hopes for this show at the beginning. I wanted it to do well, show people what DC was really capable of. I never would have thought in a million years that I would be dreading a live action Teen Titans show. However, this appears to be yet another flop that will add to the already tarnished DC reputation. I hope DC succeeds, I wanted Titans to be the first big step towards a road of wins for the company. However, that sadly doesn't appear to be the case here. I refuse to remain an optimist if this is the quality that they have accepted for their productions.

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

Venom Releases First Clip and It's Not Pretty

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

Well folks it's less than two weeks away and I would say that the anxiety is killing me, but frankly I am not having any real emotions as Venom hits theaters next Friday. That being said Sony has started to amp up advertising  over the past week. So far we have been hit with some promotional features and TV spots with some new footage. However, yesterday we got hit with our first clip of the movie and let's take a look at it below:

So the first thing that came to mind when I saw this was: "why?" Which honestly shouldn't come much as a surprise as I have found myself asking this question after pretty much every release this PR team has done for the film. The clip has fairly shotty dialogue accompanied by Tom Hardy overacting this part. While I get that they are trying to play Eddie up as this Michael Moore-esque conspiracy journalist, this whole interview just comes off as dumb. Usually you don't get handed a PR piece on a major corporation without going through some sort of vetting process to make sure you aren't there to destroy the subject of your piece. Honestly it feels choppy, especially toward the end when Drake tells Brock that "he's done." Eddie goes off the handle and starts to accuse the man of threatening him. It just feels so incredibly forced and uninspired. This brings me to my question of "why," which pertains particularly to this: if you were less than two weeks away from release, you have a box office projection of under 60 million for opening weekend, and your movie is supposed to be an action packed "antihero" film, why are you bothering with an exposition scene? No one cares about this. What little faith people have or had for this film was in action sequences. Why not release a more tame clip of Venom fighting off a bunch of goons, maybe tone down the violence for TV (oh wait I almost forgot you already had to tone it down since it's no longer rated R).

If this weren't enough of a red flag, it was also recently revealed that the film's review embargo would be lifted October 2nd, two days before the film hits theaters on the evening of the 4th, at 7:30pm PT or 10:30pm ET. This is NOT a good sign as usually this means that a studio has cause for concerns to allow those reviews to hit the web. It is to minimize damage to the film's image, so as to decrease the effect on box office numbers. Numbers which, as we have stated previously, are already projected to be VERY low.

Either way, we will see what critics are saying on the 2nd and Ill let you know what I thought of the movie as I will be seeing it on the 4th, opening night.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! see you next time!