Random Thoughts On... Scott Snyder's and Greg Capullo's Batman Run

For a while now, I’ve been going through most of my comics’ collection. I’ve mostly been doing it to weed out anything I don’t want anymore. So far, it’s only been a couple of things but not anything too big.  I’ve mostly been reading my not-so-complete collection of Post-Crisis Superman. I’ve collected stuff from the late 80’s to the late 90’s. When I get past 1999, that’s when it’ll get pretty spotty. Still, Post-Crisis Superman will make the cut. I’ve ran across some subpar issues, but it’s pretty good so far.

Anyway, one run I wanted to revisit was Scott Snyder’s and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman. At the time this series was coming out, folk were claiming it was the best series on shelves. The word of mouth got me on this one. While I was already a Batman fan, I only read a little involving the character. Most of my fandom came from the movies and animated series. Since the New 52 was starting up and I was starting to get comics regularly, I jumped in and stayed to the bitter end. Since Scott Snyder (not related to Zack Snyder) is revving up for a Batman-centered event called Dark Days: Metal, I thought it was finally time to read and talk about this run.

As I said above, Snyder’s and Capullo’s run was part of the DC’s New 52 initiative. Snyder already had some experience with Batman (the Dick Grayson variety)  since he was writing Detective Comics before this run. I didn’t know who Capullo was, though. All I knew was that he worked on Spawn and X-Force. Their run on Batman would last about 52 issues, the whole entirety of New 52 and “DC You”. There would also be a few special issues in there but I’m pretty much focusing on the main book.

Snyder was pretty much on the whole time with some writers coming in and helping out with back-ups and annuals. James Tynion IV, Gerry Dugan, Brian Azzerello, and a couple of others would help out at times. While Capullo had a couple of breaks here and there, he did a lot of his own work on the book. Other artists included folk like Andy Kubert, Jock, and, Jason Fabok, and Alex Maleev. The backups would also be handled by Rafael Albuquerque and others. Inkers would also vary here and there. Capullo’s main inkers were Johnathan Glapion and Danny Miki.

Favorites - Best Animated Versions of the X-Men Part 2

Here are the rest of list from a couple days of ago. Not only are there heroes, but there are some villains.

Cyclops

If you think I’m not a fan of ‘ole Slim, you’d be mistaken. Someone cool had to start this part of the list off! Cyclops is more or less accurate in all three shows. The 90’s show is probably the one is most comic accurate since he’s leading the X-Men, married to Jean, ticking off Logan, and being a little uptight at times. On X-Men Evolution (EVO), Scott led the team into battle and was pretty cool at times. As for the Cyclops of Wolverine and the X-Men (WATXM), he was a little off the rocker. Since Jean was presumed dead, he quit the team and only came back because Logan asked him to. Even though he’s not leading the group, he does get a few moments to shine in the season.

It’s kind of easy to throw Scott in the “overbearing good guy who never breaks the rules” group. To be fair, it’s not a bad thing for him since I’d follow him into battle. The problem is that he really doesn’t come off as cool to most folk. While I liked Cyclops from the 90’s show, he was a little lame at times. Also, his voice actor was okay. Then, we get to WATXM’s Cyclops who was pretty much depressed all the time. I know he’s been at that stage in the comics too, but the creators go overboard with it on the show.

This is why I choose Cyclops from EVO. When re-watching the show, I really thought he was a cool guy. He could even have a little fun from time to time. You can’t say that about the rest of the Scotts. While throwing him and some of the others into high school was a weird move, I think it helped me like the character a little bit more. We got to see him grow into one into being a good leader. Yeah, he’s not butting heads with Logan over Jean (that would have been creepy…), but everything else worked.

Favorites – Best Animated Versions of the X-Men Part 1

You know, there is something missing from TV these days: an X-Men cartoon. While I can’t call myself an uber-fan of the X-Men these days, I can still say that they’re one of my favorite superhero teams. A lot of that fandom mostly stems from the many animated shows. Heck, I think I could almost recite a lot of the dialogue from the 90’s show’s first season. If only I could put that type of power towards something truly worthwhile…

Anyway, ever since Wolverine and the X-Men ended, we’ve seen less and less of them on TV. While the movies are still coming out and there are live-action shows coming, even I’ll admit that they get it wrong at times. The animated shows were able to capture more of what the X-Men were all about. Plus, they knew how to have fun and that is something the movies still struggle with. The X-Men (Wolverine at least) will pop in every so often on some Marvel show but that’s it. I think even Deadpool is supposed to get his own animated show. I bet someone’s happy about that!

So, what are these posts all about? A while back, I was wondering about which X-characters from the cartoons were done the best. I considered everything from the stories to even the voice-acting. Since most characters don’t crossover to different shows, I’m keeping the list to only a few heroes and villains. I’m also only including X-Men (the 90's show), X-Men: Evolution (EVO), and Wolverine and the X-Men (WATXM). I know there’s an X-Men anime from 2011 out there, but I’ve never seen it. Besides, something tells me that those versions of the characters probably wouldn’t make it on here anyway. Also, this isn’t a competition in which show was the best. I felt that these three shows had some great strengths as well as some unfortunate weaknesses.

Movie Talk - The Amazing Spider-Man Duology

After finishing Mass Effect: Andromeda (I’ll talk about that soon), it’s time to get to these two movies. We’re this close to another Spider-Man movie coming out. The first reactions are out and they’re saying that it’s good. I probably will see it. Since some critics I follow have said good things about it, I may do it.

Last time, I looked at Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. While its last movie wasn’t good, it was cool revisiting it. When I heard that Sony was going to reboot Spider-Man, I was kind of shocked. While Spider-Man 3 was a disappointment, you’d think that Sony would continue with what they were doing. Unfortunately (for most fans), that wasn’t meant to be since Sony and Sam Raimi couldn’t agree on what to do next. When Raimi left, Sony went on and decided to reboot the whole thing with a new origin and new actors. Director Marc Webb was brought on to direct the two movies.

The Amazing Spider-Man was released in 2012 while its sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released in 2014. I didn’t see any of these movies at the cinemas. I almost saw the first one in theaters, but I think I was already off the Spidey train at that point. I did eventually see bits and pieces of it on some cable channel one night. As for TASM2, the word of mouth kept from that one. I still remember Spoony’s epic 2 hour rant about the thing. By the way, whatever happened to that dude? Anyway, I finally watched these movies over the week.