Trade Tales! - Batman: The Cult

Next up on this small Dark Knight post-binge is the story that started the binge. Batman: The Cult was a four-issue miniseries that was released in 1988. It was released in prestige form, so that meant that the issues themselves could be longer. They could also go places where mainstream comics wouldn’t go. Heck, if you read the first few pages, you’ll see that in detail. I think it was even meant for mature readers when it was released.  It’s akin to stories like The Dark Knight Returns. Judging by the artwork and format, you’d think it came from that universe. It was also loosely adapted into The Dark Knight Rises and that was apparent when I read it.

I heard about this story for years but never really got around to finding it. When I saw it for cheap, I thought it was finally time to see what this thing was about. The story was written by Jim Starlin, a pretty cool writer who was already writing Batman’s main series at this point. The artwork was done by Bernie Wrightson, one of the creators for Swamp Thing. Bill Wray handled the colors. This is also another story that gets thrown on those “Greatest Batman Stories” lists. So, is it truly worth it? Do I even need to answer that question? Find out after this probably brief synopsis!

Batman: The Cult

Writer: Jim Starlin

Artist: Bernie Wrightson

Colors: Bill Wray

Letters: John Costanza

Editors: Dennis O’Neil

Trade Tales! - Batman: The Long Halloween

Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a Batman kick. A few weeks ago, I found Batman: The Cult in the cheap bins, so I gave finally gave that a read. This led me to reading more Batman stories like most of Grant Morrison’s work. I also finally finished reading Paul Dini’s Vertigo book, Dark Knight: The True Batman Story. I also re-watched Batman Begins for the first time in years. Today’s subject was also a part of that Bat-Binge: The Long Halloween.

Batman: The Long Halloween was a 13-part maxiseries that was released between 1996 and 1997. Editor Archie Goodwin (nice first name) asked writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale if they wanted to work on another Batman story. They had already done some Batman stories in Legends of the Dark Knight. Those stories were eventually put in a trade called Batman: Haunted Knight. The two creators once again took a swing at the Dark Knight and decided to set this story during Batman’s early days. In a way, you could consider this as a sequel to Frank Miller’s story, Batman: Year One It involves our major characters (Batman and Gordon) going up against Falcone and Catwoman’s involved.

I didn’t hear about this story until sometime in college. I knew that it pretty much what Christopher Nolan used for 2008’s The Dark Knight. I know I got this from Pulaski’s public library, but I don’t remember the year. I later found this at McKay’s and bought it. I just wish I flipped through it since something was spilled on the early pages of the trade. At least it’s just those few pages. Some have called this one of Batman’s best stories. Is it true? Find out after this quick synopsis of a 13-issue mini!

Batman: The Long Halloween

Writer: Jeph Loeb

Artist: Tim Sale

Colors: Gregory Wright

Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft

Random Thoughts On... How the X-Men could be handled in the MCU

So, what is going on with the MCU lately? Avengers: Infinity War was just released digitally, so that’s nice. I’ll touch on it here soon. There’s that whole situation involving James Gunn (the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies) that I won’t touch upon that here. I think Twitter’s ran the gamut on that whole, weird topic anyway. Has something else happened recently that involves Disney making some big purchase with 20^th Century Fox-- Oh. Yeah. That did just happen.

On July 27^th, 2018, it was announced that Disney would be purchasing movie and tv assets from 20^th Century Fox. For those who don’t know, Fox has had the film rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four properties for years. This means that we may get those heroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon. This was something that left folk pretty happy and a few folk kind of disappointed. As for me, I’m a little mixed since I mostly liked what Fox was doing with the X-Men franchise… mostly, mind you. I haven’t forgotten what happened in 2006 and 2009. You can also throw the FF movies in that lot since they weren’t that good either.

Folk have been constantly theorizing on how the X-Men and FF would fit in the MCU. Would they be fully integrated or left off on the side somewhere? Would Marvel continue what was laid out with Fox or would it be a straight-up reboot? I wasn’t thinking about that stuff too much myself, but my mind did lay out some possibilities. While I was walking in Kroger a couple of nights back, I was wondering how this could work if they did a full-on reboot with the X-Men. So, here are six things that I hope the creators take into account.

Random Thoughts #49 - So Much To Do, So Little Time...

Well, we’re getting to the end of July. So far, this summer’s been fine. Outside of painting a living room and wondering about eye pressures, things have been good. Right now, I’m just chillin’, yo’. Before I head off to work, it’s time for some Random Thoughts.

“The thrill is gone/I’m burnt out/So…Much…Stuff!/Etc.”

Well, this had to happen eventually. For a while, I haven’t been feeling like writing here. I’m not sure what it is. It’s not like I’m out of things to talk about. I just recently posted that Planet of the Apes ranking. I guess I just need a break more these days since I kind of felt like this last year as well. There’s also the fact that is just so much to see and do out there. I wonder what changed… oh yeah.  There’s a certain cool redhead named Liz to consider. At least my time away from here is going toward the good stuff in life.

Another Mass Effect Playthrough… Oh Yeah!

Recently, I’ve been playing through the Mass Effect Trilogy again. I think I’ve almost made it into a yearly thing. Even though I’ve done this dance before, I still find it to be compelling and interesting. This time, I’m Genevieve Shepard… that’s right. I refused to use any relatives' or current/former loves' names. FemShep’s been in the house and it has been… nuts. I had to change it up not only with the gender but with big decisions. I also upped the difficulty to hardcore. I unfortunately finished Mass Effect 2 without two of my favorite companions. It was quite a sad experience and one I don’t need to relive. Zaeed died too but I didn’t shed any tears for that dull dude.

Movies

I haven’t been to the movies in a minute. The last one I saw in theatres was Life of the Party with Liz. I haven’t even gone to see Ant-Man and the Wasp… and I think I’m going to keep up with that for now. I’m more interested in the new Mission Impossible movie and another movie called Sorry to Bother You. Still, I got an opinion on a few I’ve seen recently:

• Avengers: Infinity War – Oh yeah, I was supposed to talk about this one! I’ll get more detailed when it comes out soon, but I have to say that it was pretty good. I had a couple of issues here and there, but I was glued from beginning to end. Thanos is definitely a villain that won’t be upstaged anytime soon.
• Solo: A Star Wars Story – I was worried about this one being a waste of time. Luckily, this one was good. I’m not going to call it one of the best SW movies, but it kept me entertained from beginning to end. I might have to do a look at the SW movies we’ve gotten so far because I may have some things to say about them.
• Life of the Party – I ended up seeing this one with Liz on Memorial Day. It was a comedy about a middle-aged lady going back to get her bachelor’s in… archeology? I guess I remembered more about this one than I thought.  It was okay. I’m not the biggest fan of Melissa McCarthy, but she does make me laugh. She did that here, so mission accomplished.
• Heat – Yeah, I hadn’t seen this Michael Mann classic from the 90’s until a few months ago.  It popped up on Netflix and I was interested. I remember someone saying this was an inspiration for The Dark Knight and I saw that here. While it was a long one (almost 3 hours), it kept my attention all the way through. The acting from the big guys was good, the story was interesting, and the action was sweet.
• Calibre – I saw this on Netflix with my sister and dad one weekend. It’s about hunting trip in Scotland gone completely wrong. I actually thought this was a suspenseful ride. I didn’t know what was coming and thought the acting was quite nice. It’s one that’ll make you wonder what you’d do in the protagonists’ shoes. Let’s just say I wouldn’t have gone hunting back there in the first place.

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Well, that’s all I got for now. Next, I may do something involving the Dark Knight. I’m not even sure what it’ll be, but it’ll probably involve a bunch of villains… and holidays. I might even throw in a crazy cult or something. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

Favorites - Planet of the Apes Movies: Least Favorite to Favorite - Part 3

Well, here is part 3 of my long ranking of the Planet of the Apes movies. Yeah, I'm getting in depth with this thing. Since my first look at the original movies was pretty brief, it was time for a do-over. So, next up is the latest entry into the franchise. Some say that it's the best of the bunch. As for me...you'll see below.