Showing posts with label Flash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flash. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Comic Book Television: Too much of a good thing?


It wasn’t that long ago when the only comic book-like characters on TV could be found in shows like ‘Heroes’ and ‘The Cape’. Now we have a smorgasbord of comic book TV shows and for most people there is so much content it is impossible to view it all (unless your unemployed I guess). There is so much that I have had to pick and choose what to watch and what not to watch. Here’s a quick breakdown:

 

Netflix/Marvel Shows:
 

Season 2 for both Luke Cage and Iron Fist was an improvement from their first seasons but sadly the improvements were not enough and both shows were cancelled. Mike Colter as ‘Luke Cage’ is brilliant in the role; I would even go so far as to say he was born to play the character. I really hope they use him in future Marvel TV or film projects. Iron Fist on the other hand just never really hit for me. Their portrayal of Danny Rand just fell flat. He is supposed to be a kung fu master yet season one there were very few fights. And the fights that did occur were really laughable. Season 2 was a slight improvement but not much. It is my hope they will combine both these characters in a ‘Heroes for Hire’ TV series, which is what they should have done to begin with.

Season 3 of Daredevil was great in my opinion. The story, the fights, the cast, everything was just right for this season. Season one was great too, season two was not as good but they did introduce the Punisher and Elektra into the mix.

Season 2 of Jessica Jones was definitely not as good as season one. Season 2 lacked a compelling villain. David Tenant as ‘Killgrave’ hit it out of the park, and he is in my opinion THE BEST villain in all the MCU (movies included).

 

CW/Arrowverse Shows:
 
 

I stopped watching these shows a few years ago despite having good actors and good stories. The formula they all follow is what ruined them for me: Arrow, Flash, Legends, Supergirl all have the same format: title character surrounded by a ‘team’ which help them solve problems and save the day. As time goes on the ‘team’ members themselves gain powers, abilities and take center stage from time to time. This is easily forgiven in ‘Legends’ since they are in fact a team show, the rest it just gets too be too much following all these less interesting characters around. Plus the 22+ episode seasons do not help!! Sorry Stephen Amell, you are a great guy and it was a thrill to meet you but I can’t commit to a 22+ television season with so many other shows trying for my attention.

 
Others:



I watched ‘Legion’ season one and was intrigued, especially with Aubrey Plaza. She is fantastic in this show. But season 2 lost me right away and I haven’t gone back to watch.

 

I have not checked out any of the other shows I’ve heard of: Titans, The Gifted, Cloak & Dagger, Gotham, etc. I am looking forward to a ‘Doom Patrol’ show because I have been a fan of the comic since I was a kid. I think that launches early next year.

 

And finally DC: Make a Batman TV series already! Not a young Alfred show or young Gordon show or Batwoman show, I want a honest to goodness serious (not Adam West) Batman series! Call up HBO, they do awesome TV like ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Westworld’, I’m sure they’d love to tackle a Batman series!

 

Nuff Said.  

 

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

The Comic Book Pile:Summer 2012

***Note***
This is an unpublished blog post from 2012. Not sure why I never posted it, it was interesting to see how much has changed in 6 years. I've inserted some updated comments.
- Chris Sept 25th 2018
_______________

2012: (2018)


I am currently blogging while on my vacation in Fairview, Alberta. The family and I are visiting my Grandparents-in-law. (Sadly we did not make our annual trip to Fairview in 2018)
We are having a blast as always. But onto the blogging:
 
As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull' (I no longer order comics through Comic Pull. I get my comic books digitally from comixology and I order trades from Amazon) . I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall (Which has now been closed for probably 2-3 years. The last owner was a bone head and not a comic book fan and had no clue how to stay in business. I really did not like him and I am glad to see his business fail, although I am sad to see no comic book store in the mall. I have a lot of fond memories of WEM Comic King as it was my first comic book store).



I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read (I never kept up with that nor do I want to do that now...lol). Some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  
 
Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)
 
1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!! (Still good with Tom King currently writing it)
2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show) (Sadly this book ended earlier this year but still worth checking out)
3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun. (Waid no longer writing and I stopped reading it)
4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book. (Hickman no longer writing and it just relaunched with Dan Slott writing after a 3 year hiatus of the title. So far it is good) 
5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman) (No longer being made)
6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book. (No longer being made)
7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is. (No longer reading. got very boring)
8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)
9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)
10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good. (No longer reading. Got boring and redundant in my opinion)
 
Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC)(No longer reading) , Secret (Image) (No longer being made), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel)(No longer reading) , Batman Incorporated (DC)(No longer being made) .
 
Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.
  
See you in the fall for more of 'The Comic Book Pile'!! (No you won't)
(But more blogging goodness next week as always!)

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Comic Book Pile: Summer 2012


As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull'. I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall. I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read. some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  
 
Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)
 
1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!!
2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show)
3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun.
4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book.
5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman)
6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book.
7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is.
8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too.
9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman.
10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good.
 
Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC), Secret (Image), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel), Batman Incorporated (DC).
 
Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.
 
See you in the fall for 'The Comic Book Pile', but see you next week for more blogging goodness!