Movie Talk - Zack Snyder's Justice League

Man, we got hit with some comic book goodness a while back. The revamped Justice League as well as “Captain Falcon and The Mark Hammill-Look-Alike” hit right around the same time. I even got around to finishing WandaVision, aka “Grief Personified into Sitcoms” too. It’s goodness all around when you include Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat! Yeah, I usually start these Snyder posts with a bit of a joke, but not this time. There’s not anything out in theatres for me to joke about, but I could probably make fun of something. Let me just get on with this one.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League was something I wasn’t clamoring for for a couple of reasons. I’ve got my fair share of Justice League-ness, and the fandom surrounding it is a lot. I didn’t say “toxic” because that gets thrown around a too much, and it’s not like any fandom has no toxicity in it. Some folk I do follow seem pretty chill. Heck, anti-Snyder fans are about as annoying as some pro-Snyder fans. Yes, I said it and I’m not even that big a fan of Snyder. Even though the original theater version wasn’t that satisfying, I still enjoyed it for what it was. Then, we heard what happened behind-the-scenes with the reshoots, and… eegh. That’s not even including what got cut out of Snyder’s original cut.

When the WB announced that it was coming, I was “whelmed, traught, and feeling the ‘aster…” whatever that means.  As more of the trailers came, I started to get a bit more excited. I ended up watching it all in bits and pieces the day it was released. I’ll save the pretty spoilerish bits for below, but I thought it was pretty good. The tone is pretty consistent throughout with some good bits of humor and pretty heartfelt moments. The League is all on top form here and even Stepphenwolf comes off better. It’s not perfect (a bit overlong in places and a couple of weird plot points), but this blew out the theatrical cut by a mile.

Favorites - Best Superhero Video Games

Soon, I'll be playing this game... 2020 sounds like a good year to start!

Since it is the end of the year and I’m working on setting up a new blog, I thought I’d finally do something with the drafts I got over here. I got some I recently put in and a few that have been drafts for years. It was about time to let these unfinished posts get their light of day. I even got one from like 2010 I haven’t even finished yet! I’ll get to that soon, but right now, I’m going to talk about some games.

Since I’ll be in an Assassin’s Creed binge for a bit, I haven’t gotten a chance to touch the latest Spider-Man game. Yeah, I said it. It sounds quite horrible, doesn’t it? I wasn’t too worried about this game since its publisher, Insomniac, does good stuff. In fact, most superhero games have been pretty good lately. I couldn’t say that years ago, though. I still haven’t gotten a good Superman game yet, but I’m praying for it, dang it! Yeah, folk pray about sport teams, so I might as well pray about something that is pretty inconsequential to life but fun.

Years ago, an idea popped into my head: what are my favorite superhero video games? I know that I have a least played more than ten games based on superheroes. So, here is the list that’ll  cover games from all over the spectrum: old consoles, current-gen consoles,  arcade games, movie tie-ins, and independent stuff as well. I originally was going to only put 8 games on here since I’m not the most varied gamer, but I can thankfully put more on here these days. If they’re good and part of a series, I’m mentioning them too. This also isn’t in any order, but I will put my favorites at the top. First, here are some honorable mentions. These are ones I liked but never got to finish:

• Spider-Man 2 (PS2) – Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Spider-Man 2 is a good game, but I never finished the dang thing. That Mysterio boss battle always messed me up. It did do a lot of things right, though. it served as a good movie tie-in, it had the actors from the movie (Tobey MacGuire wasn’t too good if I remember), and it really made you feel like Spider-Man for the first time. Previous games did what they could, but this one surpassed them with the open-world aspect. Besides, I got a couple of other SM games for the actual list.
• Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2) – I didn’t get to finished this one either, folks. I don’t know what happened. I know I rented it but this was around the time where time was scarce and I had no job. A man’s got to eat! Anyway, while my time with this game was short, this was fun. You got to run around as Hulk and cause a lot of destruction in your way. Heck, it’s in the title.
• Capcom’s Marvel series (PS1, PS3, etc) – Yeah, yeah, I know. While I don’t play many fighting games these days, I got Marvel vs. Capcom 3 around the house somewhere. Unfortunately, I’ve only put in about an hour of gameplay on it. Even though I haven’t finished that one, I still remember some of the others from the arcades and consoles. X-Men: Children of the Atom was a fun one as well Marvel Super Heroes. The one I remember the most and actually beat was X-Men vs: Street Fighter for the PS1. I may need to revisit some of these one day.

Random Justice League Episode - Hereafter

Well, I got three more posts for this month, so I’m going out some of the big ones. Next up, we got one of my favorite superhero teams: The Justice League. You can throw “of America,” “Elite”, “International,” “Task Force,” or “Dark” at the end of that phrase. Just don’t use “Extreme” and we’ll be good. The team first appeared in comics in The Brave and the Bold #28. The idea DC had was to reintroduce a then-modern version of the Justice Society of America. They just changed the name and threw in all of the major heroes like the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Superman, and Batman. Over the years, a lot more heroes were added. They eventually got put into their own book, Justice League of America, and the rest was history.

The team also made it to TV and movies. They’ve been in stuff like The Super Friends, they headlined their own show for years, and they’ve had a lot of animated movies done about them. They’ve also been put in live-action. There was the recent 2017 movie, Smallville, and some weird variety show from 1979. In 2007, there was a movie that was in production called Justice League: Mortal, but that never came to be. There’s also the failed pilot from the 90’s. They’ve also made it to the video games and have had quite a few games released featuring them.

Since Superman is the theme of the month, I thought I’d look at an episode from Justice League. “Hereafter” was a season 2 episode. Season 2 is probably one the best seasons for the show overall. It was written by Dwayne McDuffie, a cool writer who is unfortunately no longer with us. So, what happens to the League when a member is lost?

Favorites – 12 Favorite Black Characters in Comic Books

You know, I really haven’t done much for Black History Month here. I tend not to do much in February anyway. Heck, I’d rather talk about us any other time. Why regulate blackness to one month anyway? Maybe I shouldn’t complain since a lot of history could and does get swept under the rug. It’s also possible that I’m just filling up space with this paragraph. After all, I’m usually a dude with few words.

Since it’s Black History Month and Black Panther is finally coming to theaters, it’s time to get to this post. I’ve wanted to do this for a while but never knew when to do it. While there aren’t many, there are some cool black characters in comics. While some of them aren’t necessarily my favorites, there are some I really like. I especially like when they’re actually well-written. I’d probably say that Marvel uses them better but DC has good ones too. So, here are some of my favorite Black characters from comic books. It’s also not in any order either. First, I have some honorable mentions:

• Bishop (Marvel) – Lucas Bishop’s up here mostly because he may be the second black superhero I ever ran across. For those who don’t know, he’s another X-Man from the future. I first saw him on the 90’s X-Men cartoon. I thought his power set (he can absorb energy and use that energy) was pretty cool. There’s also the fact that was one of the only X-Men who had sense to carry weapons. That being said, I was not a fan of what the writers did with the character around the late 2000’s. How can you turn one of the only black dudes on the X-Men into a villain? At least he’s not like that now.
• Falcon (Marvel) – Sam Wilson isn’t really one of my favorites. Guys who fly and can communicate with birds aren’t my thing. I also haven’t read much of anything with him in it. Still, I did like his turn as Captain America when he was written by Nick Spencer. Yeah, it’s the guy who made Steve Rogers into a fascist. We can’t all be perfect. Also, Anthony Mackie has been killing it in the MCU. Maybe he gets to wield a shield in a later movie?
• Black Lightning (DC) – Then, there’s DC’s first black superhero. As you can tell by the name, Black Lightning has power over electricity. I really didn’t see any of Jefferson Pierce until Infinite Crisis. He was pretty cool in Brad Meltzer’s run on JLA. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much from him since then. I haven’t even gotten to watch the CW show yet. I’ve heard that it’s good, so here’s hoping I can get some more Lightning goodness there.
• Bronze Tiger (DC) – Ben Turner, aka Bronze Tiger, is pretty much in the antihero side of things. While he has been a villain (especially on CW’s Arrow), he’s sometimes a good guy. I talked about him last month. While I haven’t read a lot on him, I like what I’ve read so far. He’s just a dude who’s awesome at martial arts. That’s cool to me. If you saw what I was posting last month, you’d see that.

Movie Talk - Justice League

Well, it’s time. The movie that everyone has been wondering about has finally hit theaters. Like other movies, the reaction has been polarizing. I gotta say, I was even shocked. I mean, when I saw Denzel Washington cosplaying as Norbit, my hopes for Roman J. Israel Esq. were dashed, man! I… Hold up. Wasn’t there another recent movie that polarized the populace? Oh yeah… Justice League!

For those who have probably living under a rock, Justice League was released in theaters a couple of weeks ago. Since its release, it’s been… weird. With all of the rumors and behind-the-scenes news, I don’t even knew what we were expecting to get. I saw the movie the weekend it was released. I even made through the whole thing and I prepared for that. I can really use that “my body is ready” meme. I did consider seeing it a second time but I’ll hold off for now. Besides, I haven’t even seen Thor: Fraggle Rock yet! Maybe I could rope someone in to see it again with, but I bet she’ll want to see something else.

Justice League is pretty much about the formation of the team. After Superman’s death, Batman assembles an assortment of heroes to battle a world-ending threat. If you’ve seen my reviews for Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman, you may know the drill. I thought this was a good movie for the most part. All the members of the League rocked in my opinion. The action was nice, most of the effects were good, a lot of the humor worked, and the story was serviceable. It does have its glaring problems, but at the end, I can say I liked this one. So, if you want a more detailed look, scroll on down.

"It's a Video Game!" - Injustice 2

Who knew an alternate universe where Superman crosses the line and becomes a dictator would be an actual thing these days? Yeah, it’s shown up in comics before, but you rarely saw it in other media. In 2013, Netherrealm Studios decided to take the leap in ticking off Superman fans around the world with Injustice: Gods Among Us. It takes place in an alternate universe where the Joker killed Lois, their unborn child, and all of Metropolis by tricking Superman. Superman then killed Joker and decided to take a tougher approach against evil. He and other heroes formed the Regime and basically took over the world. It took that world’s heroes (led by Batman) and the regular universe’s heroes (including a good Superman) to stop the Superman’s Regime.

Since the game and the digital series were successes, a sequel was likely to come. While I’m not into fighting games like I used to be, this was one I knew I’d throw out some money for. Injustice 2 was released during May of 2017. It takes place a few years after the events of the last game. The world is still trying to get back to normal after Superman’s regime fell. Unfortunately, the peace is interrupted when Brainiac and Gorilla Grodd’s group, the Society, threaten the world. Batman and the heroes must do what they can to save the day. That may also include releasing Superman from his red sun prison and teaming up with former friends-turned-enemies.

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Justice League International #13 and Suicide Squad #13

So, what would you think a fight between the Justice League and the Suicide Squad would look like? If you thought it’d involve Harley Quinn trying to ram Wonder Woman with a motorcycle, you’d be correct. While that recent crossover was actually pretty good, that’s not the subject of today. The League and the Squad did square down before but it was less world-ending. In the late 1980’s, both teams were revamped after the crossover event, Legends. John Ostrander went gritty with the Suicide Squad while the team of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire brought the laughs with Justice League International.

The two teams eventually had a little crossover with their books. They are Justice League International #13 and Suicide Squad #13. I first ran across this in the JLI Omnibus years ago before I eventually found the single issues. JLI was written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. Instead of Maguire on the art, Giffen also did the pencils while Al Gordon did the inks. As for Suicide Squad, John Ostrander was the writer. Luke McDonnell handled the pencils while Bob Lewis handled the inks.

Random Thoughts On... DC's Identity Crisis

Next up for the month is a bit of a controversial one. If you’ve ever heard of this story, you’ll know why. It’s going to get a little serious since this story deals with something a little too dark for some. Just letting you know.

In 2004, DC Comics released Identity Crisis, a seven-issue event. Like most Crisis events, it changed a lot about the landscape of DC for years to come. Unlike events such as Zero Hour and Crisis on Infinite Earths, it didn’t go all-cosmic with it. It’s pretty much a murder mystery set in the DC Universe. It’s also a miniseries that scooped up a lot of controversy as it was released throughout 2004. It was written by Brad Meltzer, a novelist who started to enter into comics. He had previously wrote on Green Arrow and apparently did so good there someone wanted him to helm an event. Ralph “Rags” Morales, a guy who’s worked on many DC books, handled the pencils while Michael Blair handled the inks.

I first ran into this event right at the end. I made my first hike to the Outer Limits on Memorial Blvd. during November, I think. By the way, there’s no way I’d do it now since they’ve moved since then. I also remember I was going to a party later that night. Anyway, I picked up a few issues like New Avengers #1 and Identity Crisis #7. I ended up reading it sometime later. Then… I ended up throwing it away. If you think it was because of that ending, I don’t think it was that. I don’t know if it got ruined or ripped. With how this event was regarded, I bet I wasn’t the only one who threw it away.

 While his interior work was fine, the late Michael Turner turned in great covers.

A couple of years later, I perused through the trade at the Waldenbooks in Cool Springs. Since then, I’ve read some of the tie-ins as well as what spun out of it. A few weeks ago, I saw it at McKay’s and finally decided to check this story out. It's a story that folk either like or hate. I’ve seen folk like Linkara tear this story a new one. On the other end the spectrum, I’ve heard the father/daughter team on the Relatively Geeky Network give it a fair but positive review. So, now that I’ve read it in full, where do I stand? By the way, “there be spoilers here, arrrr!!!”

Yeah, I’m hyping myself up for the darkness that’s about to come.

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - JLA #10-15: Rock of Ages

Ah, that three/four day break from work/Nashville worked wonders. Yes, I wasn’t laying on my butt the whole time (my folks live on a farm), but you usually do that when you get a crown put on your tooth. Anyway, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Some little indie movie called Justice League is coming out soon and I thought I’d look at a few things that feature the team. It’s not completely a themed month, but it’ll be a little DC-centered.

First up for the month is a return to Grant Morrison’s run on JLA. It’s even somewhat topical since it involves a Fourth World element. It’s “Rock of Ages” and it took place through JLA #11-15. At this point, the team had a bit of a change-up. Wonder Woman’s dead (don’t ask me, man), Superman’s in his electric phase, and we got a couple of new recruits in the form of Connor Hawke (Oliver Queen’s son) and Aztek. Morrison’s writes, Howard Porter draws (mostly) and John Dell inks. Porter does get a little help on the last issue from artists Greg Land and Gary Frank.

JLA #10-15: “Rock of Ages”

Writer: Grant Morrison

Pencils: Howard Porter, Greg Land (#15), and Gary Frank (#15)

Inks: John Dell

Colors: Pat Garrahy 
Separations: Heroic Age

Letters: Ken Lopez

Editors: Peter Tomasi, L.A. Williams, and Dan Raspler

Random Thoughts #46 - "Dearly Beloved, We're Gathered Here Today To Get Through This Thing Called Life"

The Flash probably has the best super-move in most fighting games.

It's been a while since I've done one of these. I might make this a regular thing again and include some different things. So, before I go to bed after re-sorting books and watching documentaries, I think it's time for some Random Thoughts.

Teeth, Stop Bothering Me!
So far, life's been nice. It's life, so you know you'll get the good and bad. Work's good. God's been good. The family and friends have been nice too especially a certain redhead. More on that some other time. Anyway, my mouth has been the place to go for the last couple of months. First, I got a couple of fillings. Then, I had to get a root canal since a back tooth got infected. I haven't gotten the crown yet, though. I also have a couple of other fillings scheduled for later too. I'm not much of a talker, so I guess this is someone's way of get me to open my mouth more. "Ha ha," I sarcastically say.

"Stuff's Gettin' Weird, Yo!"
It has been a weird year. We've had a lot of weird stuff happen especially in the last few months. It's either a tragedy, something weird, something stupid, or something that's all three. No, I'm going to get too political here, but you might know who I'm talking about. Is it going to get better? I'm not sure. I'll keep praying it does get better. That being said, I'll continue to hone my horrid martial arts skills.

Movies/TV
I think I'm going to make this a more recurring thing. I won't go too in detail since I'll talk about some of these later, though.

• Get Out - I finally saw this some time ago. It was actually a pretty interesting movie that melded psychological horror, comedy, and racial commentary. I liked the main lead and I hope the director, Jordan Peele, gets to do more over time.
• Logan - This was sad but in a good way. It takes Logan and Professor Xavier for one more ride in the X-Universe. The story and acting are great. I also liked the inclusion of X-23. While it's not perfect, it was a nice, somber end to Wolverine. 
• Power Rangers - This was a nice surprise. While it is your standard origin story, it was pretty good. I liked all the new Rangers and Rita was pretty scary in a good way. While it isn't perfect, I thought it was a nice revamp of the original MMPR. I'll touch on this more later, though. Can we get a sequel?
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - I'll touch on this later as well, but all I'll say here is that it was pretty entertaining. It took a lot of the comedy from the first and tried to add some nice heart to it. It also had a pretty good, surprising villain. 
• Wonder Woman - I'll go into detail with this next month, but I can say that this was pretty good. While it's a standard origin story for Diana and it's not perfect, it's a pretty good one.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming - Before I say anything, insert something about Black Panther here. Anyway, I saw this on a date since that was probably the only way I would have seen it. I'll probably remember that day more for other stuff  (good stuff, mind you) than this movie. That being said, I liked it. It's not perfect, but it's the best Spidey movie we've gotten since 2004. Yeah, I said it. It's another I'll touch on more next year.
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Yes, I just saw this in 2017 and I wish I saw it much earlier. I wanted to wait before I saw the third one. If you wondered what a better version of Battle for Planet of the Apes would look like, see Dawn and be amazed. I'll say more later, but what I can say is that it's an almost perfect movie.
• Marvel's Inhumans - So... this was released on ABC and I've saw the first three episodes Friday. It's not good. While the casting looks fine, everything else is a bit crap. That's the best thing I can say about it for now. Maybe it'll get better with the next five episodes (it's only eight eps.) but I'm not holding my breath. 
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - I had to end this list on a positive note, so here's this awesome anime. It had good characters, great action, and pretty interesting story. Check this out even if you're not a fan of anime. 

Well, I'm outta here. I got to get sleep. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. I know there's a lot of crap out there, but try to find the good in life just as long as it isn't illegal in a majority of countries. As I said before, life brings the good and the bad. So, I'll leave you with a hint for November.

"Yeah!"

TV Talk: Justice League - "War World"

Next up for the month is the Thanos/Darkseid rip-off himself: Mongul. Well, I think he is a Thanos/Darkseid rip-off. He was created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin, so maybe he’s an homage? Anyway, Mongul first appeared in DC Comics Present #27 (1980).  He was a former ruler who was ousted form his planet. He eventually became the ruler of an artificial planet called War World. He’s gone up against Superman and the Green Lantern Corps. While he helped Hank Henshaw destroy Coast City in “Reign of the Supermen,” he’s probably best remembered for the Alan Moore story, “For the Man Who Has Everything.”

The character has been featured in stuff like Young Justice and Justice League. “For The Man Who Has Everything” was even adapted into an episode for Justice League Unlimited. Instead of another comic, I’m going to talk about Mongul’s first appearance on Justice League. “War World” was a two-parter (episodes 12 and 13) and it was loosely based off on Superman’s gladiator days during the storyline, “Exile.”

Random Thoughts On... Geoff Johns' Run on Justice League

For the last few months, I’ve been trying to go through my collection and see if some of it is worth keeping. One series that I think needed a full read-through was Geoff Johns' run on Justice League. I think I started on it back in the summer. It took me a while to finish it all since there were a couple of issues missing. Heck, I even re-read Forever Evil which is something I will talk about soon. Just recently, I finished it off with #50. I wonder why he cut his run short since he didn’t even make it to #52. Maybe he was working on making DC Rebirth #1 an awesome read which it was.

For those who don’t know, John’s run on Justice League basically kicked of DC’s “New 52” phase in August of 2011. The plan was to basically reboot the DC universe (again) and get the heroes looking fresh, new, hip, or something like that. When I heard that Johns was going to be on Justice League, I was more or less sold since he is one of my favorite modern writers. What made it even more interesting was that he would have Jim Lee doing the art. So, all was well in the land of DC, right? Well… sort of, but I’ll get to that later.

Johns would remain on the book until #50 which was released during May of 2016. I guess his departure kind of made the New 52 officially come to an end. Artists came and went with this book, though. Jim Lee was really only around for ten of the 12 issues in the first year. Afterwards, it became a bit of a hodgepodge of cool artists. We had guys like Gene Ha, Carlo’s D’Anna, Tony Daniel, Ivan Reis, Jesus Merino, Doug Mahnke, Francis Manapual, and Jason Fabok doing art chores. There was also a back-up strip in the early issues that showcased a revamped version of Shazam formerly known as Captain Marvel. Gary Frank handled the art duties to all of that. The inkers and colorists were a plenty for the series.

Hey, J'onn! What's... Oh. Crap.

Movie Talk - Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Come on, Clark! Give us farmboys a good name! Ah heck, I’d get my butt trounced too…

Well, it has now come. The movie that everyone has been clamoring/fearing/”meh-ing” for has finally come to theaters. I didn’t think that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 would be this sought after but… Oh wait.

All right, I’ll get down to business. I went to see Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Friday afternoon. I would have saw it the night before since I was off from work, but I didn’t need to see it on a full stomach. I actually missed a minute of the final fight in my viewing because I decided to drink a lot of water and Coke earlier that day. I’ve thought about giving it another watch but I think my first viewing’s enough for now. Besides, there a lot of other movies coming out this year that I may need to save a little cash for.

Since I did it with Man of Steel years ago, I’ll give a quick opinion here and save the somewhat spoiler-ish stuff for later. While it has some glaring flaws, I did enjoy this movie. The Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) make this a watch for me. They all were pretty good, well-acted, and well-cast. The action scenes themselves were quite nice. The story was fine but pretty muddled and rushed at times. I liked the supporting characters. Lex Luthor did leave me a little mixed though. Overall, it does leave me wanting to see more from this universe especially when… other folk show up here.

Tales From the Trade! - Superman/Batman: Finest Worlds - "Super/Bat"

Next up is probably the last Superman/Batman story I’ll look at for now. In 2003, DC started a new series called Superman/Batman and it featured the two heroes teaming up for adventures. Jeph Loeb and was the primary writer on the book until about its mid-20s. After he left the series, it kind of became a place for different writers to come and do their thing for a few issues. The book pretty much had rotating artists from its inception. Today’s trade, Finest Worlds, has Superman/Batman #50-56, but I’m only looking at their main arc, “Super/Bat.”

Today’s story arc comes from Superman/Batman #53-56. I might talk about the other issues at a later date. The writers are Mike Johnson and Michael Green. I know Michael Green was best known for writing on the TV show, Heroes, at the time. The two writers also worked on the rebooted Supergirl for a while when the New 52 started. The penciller for this arc is Rags Morales, the artist for Identity Crisis. He even had a stint on Action Comics during Grant Morrison’s stay there. The inker is John Dell.

Superman/Batman #53-56

Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson

Pencils: Rags Morales

Inks: John Dell

Colors: Nei Ruffino

Letters: Rob Leigh

Editors: Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Justice League: New Frontier Special #1

Well, it’s about 3 weeks until Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ died for our sins. Also, some little indie movie involving Batman, Superman, and justice is coming out. Since "Batman v. Superman: Green Eggs and Ham" is coming out soon, I wanted to look at a couple of stories that featured the duo doing their thing.

The one I’m looking at today is a little different and kind of matches the upcoming movie. When Justice League: New Frontier was being released, DC got with Darwyn Cooke (writer/artist of DC: New Frontier) and released a special one-off issue. It featured three stories from that universe Cooke set up in DC: New Frontier. For those who don’t know, DC: New Frontier was a miniseries that bridged the gap between DC’s Golden and Silver Ages. Cooke wrote all of the stories for the issue. He also did the art for the first story. Dave Bullock and Michael Cho handles the art for the second story. Finally, Jason Bone (J. Bone) handles the artwork for the last story.

Justice League: New Frontier Special #1

Writer: Darwyn Cooke

Pencils: Darwyn Cooke, Dave Bullock, and J. Bone

Inks: Darwyn Cooke, Michael Cho, and J. Bone

Colors: Dave Stewart

Letters: Jared K. Fletcher

Editor: Ian Slatter

Tales from the Library! - JLA #16-#17

Next up for this month is another bad boy: Prometheus. Before you ask, no, he wasn’t named after the movie either. He was created by Grant Morrison and was mostly featured in the series, JLA. Prometheus’s real name is unknown. His parents were essentially a “Bonnie-and-Clyde” ripoff. He sees them get killed in a police shootout and basically loses it. The experience even makes his hair got completely white. He dedicates his life to “annihilate the forces of justice” and take his revenge. He uses the money that his parents stole to get smarter and stronger. After he takes his revenge, he travels to Shamballa and finds an ancient alien ship that has access to the “Ghost Zone.”

Prometheus is pretty much the anti-Batman right down to the origin. Their origins match, they know how to fight, they plan ahead, and they use gadgets. Unlike Batman, Prometheus uses a helmet to do all sorts of stuff. It’s essentially his utility belt. He uses little CD’s to download information from his helmet as well.  Today’s issues are JLA #16 and #17. I read these from the JLA Omnibus at the library. Grant Morrison wrote both issues. Howard Porter and John Dell provided the art to #16 while Arnie Jorgensen, David Meikis, and Mark Pennington did the art for #17.

JLA #16 and #17

Writer: Grant Morrison

Pencils: Howard Porter (#16) and Arnie Jorgensen (#17)

Inks: John Dell (#16), David Meikis (#17), and Mark Pennington (#17)

Colors: Pat Garrahy

Letters: Ken Lopez

Tales From The $3.99 Bin! - Justice League #25

Today, I think it’s time to look at one of the few villains that are similar to Batman. This one is pretty obvious: Owlman. He’s Batman’s opposite from Earth-3. Back in the 1960’s, Owlman first appeared along with the Crime Syndicate of America back in Justice League of America #29. In modern times, the character was made to actually be the older brother of Bruce Wayne, Thomas Wayne Jr. He’s pretty much Batman only evil and sporting an owl fascination. Now, there is another Owlman who’s actually a part of Scott Snyder’s run on Batman, but I’m not talking about that one. I just wanted to make that clear.

Today’s issue is Justice League #25 from 2013. This is another tie-in to the event, Forever Evil. Back in September, I looked at the tie-in that revolved around Ultraman. I know I’ll have to talk about that event one day. Geoff Johns (DC’s Lord and Overseer) is the writer. Pencils are actually handled by Doug Mahnke this time around. The inks are handled by a multitude. Mahnke’s pencils usually get a lot of inkers for some reason. DC probably wanted to get this out on time I guess.They are Christian Almany, Mark Irwin, Keith Champange, and Doug Mahkne.

Justice League #25

Writer: Geoff Johns

Pencils: Doug Mahnke

Inks: Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne and Doug Mahnke

Colors: Gabe Eltaeb, Tony Avina, and Rod Reis

Letters: Nick J. Napolitano

Editors: Kate Durre and Brad Cunningham

Tales From the $3.99 Bin! - Justice League #24

This week is going to be dedicated to the darker imitations. T While a couple of these dudes aren’t bad, they do have qualities that are a bit worrisome to others around them. Then, you get to the unrepentant sons of guns. These nutjobs I’ll get to this week don’t care about nice stuff. They’re selfish, psychotic, and all-around not very nice.

First up is Ultraman from DC Comics. He is from an alternate Earth (either Earth-3 or an Anti-Matter Earth) and is part the Crime Syndicate of America, an evil version of the Justice League of America. You got to see some of his badness back in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond. Yeah, he was the version of Superman who was about to pop a vein in every panel he’s in. The original Earth-3 version has recently made a return in the New 52. Forever Evil, DC’s first major crossover in about 2 years (not counting crossovers between the Superman and Batman families), brought back the original group with a few exceptions.

In the event, the Justice League is taken out by the Syndicate. The Syndicate then takes over the world and tries to get all of the villains to side with them. Only a few folk like Batman, Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, and Black Adam are left to stand against the team. The event was okay for the most part, but I might get to that some other day. Justice League #24 was a tie-in to the event and featured Ultraman as the main feature. The man known as Geoff Johns penned the issue. The awesome pencils (yeah, I liked it) is provided by the awesomeness known as Ivan Reis.

Justice League #24

Writer: Geoff Johns

Pencils: Ivan Reis

Inks: Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Eber Ferreria

Colors: Rod Reis

Letters: Nick J. Napolitano

Editor: Kate Stewart and Brian Cunningham

My Justice League Team

Well, I'm finally at the end of Justice League Month. It's been fun going through all of this. I might do another one next year, I'm not sure yet. For my last post for the themed month, here is my ultimate Justice League team. So if I was Maxwell Lord -- eh, never mind. That guy's a bit of a d-bag. So, if I was a random alien force bent on world destruction/domination -- now that's too threatening. How about this: I'm a random guy who wants to assemble a group of the best heroes. Who would I choose?

1. Superman - It's simple. He's one of the best  heroes and one of the most powerful of the League. He's there on the first sign of trouble and he's not that bad of a leader neither. 
2. Batman - They need the money... as well as a man who is skilled at just about anything. 
3. Wonder Woman - They'll need a woman... a wonderful woman. Her compassion is as strong as her power and she's got an invisible jet! That's cool!
4. The Flash (Wally West) - He's the fastest man alive and he can be pretty funny at times. 
5. Martian Manhunter - J'onn J'onzz is a wise one and he has a lot of varied powers that can be useful.
6. Green Lantern (Any of them Really...) - The Green Lantern has a power ring that can pretty much do anything. Personally, I'd probably go with Stewart, but Rayner's cool. Hal's okay, but that Guy Gardner fellow is definitely not in.
7. Zatanna - She's an awesome magician. The League would need that. She's also pretty cute as well.
8. Cyborg - That's right. As I said before, he would make for a good Leaguer. He's good with machines.
9. Vixen - She can access animal's abilities and use them. She's also pretty cute.
10. Orion - He's a New God and the biological son of Darkseid... yeah, that's all I got.
11. Green Arrow - He's a good version of a loudmouth and he looks cool in a hood.
12. Captain Marvel/Shazam - They'll need a mascot... who is almost as powerful as Superman.

And that ends Justice League Month. I'll take it easy for December and save January for something different. I'll give you a hint with the video below. Peace.

Movie Talk - Direct-to-DVD Justice League Movies

Well, it's been a pretty short month. Today's post will be talking about the direct-to-DVD movies that featured the Justice League. Unlike some that I still haven't seen (Wonder Woman...I know I still need to), I've seen all four of these movies in one form or another. I own JL: New Frontier and rented JL: Flashpoint Paradox when they came out. I saw Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths... on YouTube. "I should be ashamed," I sarcastically say. Justice League: Doom is available on Netflix, so I was able to view that there.

Justice League: The New Frontier
Justice League: The New Frontier came out in 2008. It was the second movie that was released by Warner Bros. It's basically a close adaptation of DC: The New Frontier, a six-issue miniseries that came out back in 2004. The story takes place between the 1950's and 1960's. It's supposed to bridge the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics together. We see the origins and beginnings of the Silver Age Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter. We end up see them and other heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman team up against an evil force called the Centre. The mini-series also delved into other areas of DC and even touched upon the social issues of the era like racism, war, and McCarthyism.

Hal Jordan: All right, guys! This is the promo shot for the trailer! Suck those guts in!

Since these movies can are mandated to last 75 minutes long, a lot of the story that revolved around things not related to superheroes got cut out. The movie primarily focused on Hal Jordan, J'onn J'onnzz, and Barry Allen with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman only for supporting cast. I will go on and say that I really enjoyed this movie when it came out. It's probably one of my favorite from the line. There really isn't much that's bad about it. The only thing that could be negative about it is that so much of the story from the books  is cut out.

The voice-casting is all-around good. We have David Boreanez as Hal Jordan, Miguel Ferrer as the Martian Manhunter, Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen, Kyle MacLachlan as Superman, and Brooke Shields as Carol Ferris. The one shock of them all of is that they got Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman. Now that's cool. The animation is pretty good and fits the tone the story set. The action is pretty awesome and not held back. This was also one movie that made me want to go out and find the mini-series based on it. It's that good.