Justice League Throne of Atlantis review

I was planning on buying it this weekend when just last night I discovered the latest DC animated feature was already on youtube in the form of a series of videos making up a total of 6 parts. So, the 3 or 4 of you reading this here's what I thought of the movie. In a nut shell it was a sequel to Justice League: War wrapped in an Aquaman origin story line. Before you read on this review is really intended for people who have seen the movie not because I have spoilers but because it will make better sense if you have.
Overall it wasn't a bad movie and it entertained me for the most part. Did it have the epic grandeur of Justice League Flash Point? The character development of Batman: Under The Red Hood? Or the entertainment value with it's dialogue and action as seen in Batman: Assault on Arkham? No, not really but that's not to say it didn't do a decent job of developing the individuals of The League such as the budding love affair between Superman and Wonder Woman and Victor Stone coming to terms with his life as a cybernetic organism. And of course we get to see more of the usual smart ass quips from Green Lantern along with some adolescent male humor provided by Captain Marvel. The Mera character was something of a surprise as a supporting role for the heroes that I liked and as for the villains . . Orem and Black Manta I would describe as adequate.
As for Aquaman himself they did a fairly good job with him as an origin story although there was some shit that annoyed me like a knife shattering against his skin as if a knife is made of a brittle material that would break like that. His journey as someone with a mixed heritage with a mystery back ground to becoming part of The League was handled fairly well I especially liked how he was a booze hound at the beginning of the movie. The high point of the final battle was definitely the way Aquaman defeats Black Manta although the battle it's self was otherwise . . . standard and kinda under whelming. On a high note the post credit scene of Lex Luthor visiting Belle Reve certainly intrigued me.

Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAzRRbqAkr4

Suicide Squad article from 2008 BACK ISSUE magazine

BACK ISSUE magazine from TwoMorrows Publishing is a fairly recent discovery I've made only as of late last year. I love how they have old copies of their magazines easily available for free to read online. The commentary on the second page of the article was pretty funny but you can read this entire Suicide Squad article at this link  . . .
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=619

The Bat vs The Spider

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So here we are my first bit of fan art 2015. I just did this on a whim this past weekend which was a nice and relaxing one I must say. For a little while now I've had this idea in the back of my head to do something with Black Spider. As a ninja version of  The Punisher in the DCU I'd like to see the character get a bit more notoriety.

Along came a Black Spider

I was really enjoying the mano a mano throw down between Black Spider and Batman in Assault on Arkham it's too bad it got cut short by a mis thrown boomerang by the good Captain. Have a look at the rest of The Squad files from Assault on Arkham . .  .
http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2014/08/05/batman-assault-on-arkham-meet-task-force-x

Speaking of DC animated films I just got done watching Justice League War on youtube I finally found an actual full movie upload as opposed to the bogus channels that just have in the title "full movie" only to find some bullshit. It wasn't as good as Assault on Arkham or Batman Year One but it was still fairly good even though the parademon/Darksied fight scenes got to be a bit tedious. Can't wait to see Throne of Atlantis it's probably gonna be the only thing from DC worth looking forward to in 2015.

8 1/2 X 11 oil on canvas 1996

I'm posting this old school fan art of the Martian Manhunter just for the hell of it. Some retro fan art to help usher in the new year as it were : )

Batman Year One and Gotham Knight DVDs

So by now most of you about my recent trip to Oregon. What I hadn't mentioned up until now is that aside from all the other stuff I did up there was that I also met up with one of my old high school buddies who had moved to Portland in 2002. We did a DC Universe movies DVD swap (long term loans). I just got done watching the Batman: Year One DVD and I have to say it was pretty good. It was just an all around good cop story and Batman story with all the bells and whistles that make so many DC animated movies top notch. I'll update this posting as soon as I watch Batman: Gotham Knight this weekend. In the mean time I've been hearing about this Suicide Squad movie that's in production if you wanna know my thoughts on it check this comment thread http://taskforce-x.blogspot.com/2014/11/suicide-squad-movie-news.html

Dec. 6th Update: So I just got around to watching the Gotham Knight DVD and it's actually 6 short movies instead of one long one. Of the 6 their were a couple of mediocre ones but the other 4 were pretty good even though the one that starred Deadshot features DS in one of the lamest costumes I'd ever seen.

Meet the "New" Suicide Squad of the DC reboot, same as the old Suicide Squad of the DC reboot

The following videos are from what I think are the best comic book reviewers on Youtube. I like how they do everything from how they display the clip to the snarky sarcasm and how they always keep their reviews on point and with the right running time. As far as I'm concerned despite factors like Black Manta, Deathstroke and Deadshot actually looking like Floyd Lawton and not like Rick Flag for a change this 2nd volume of DC's rebooted Squad basically looks like more of the same to me.
I can only speculate why DC felt like they needed to rebrand this title but it ain't gonna get me to spend my money any more then the last one did after I dropped the book. And why is Captain Boomerang absent from the line up again? It was a case of too little too late when they finally had him come back to the team in the last series but at least it was one of those rare occasions in which the writers did something that did justice to the Squad.

Secret Origins 28 (1988) Nightshade and Task Force X

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This weekend I found this issue in a $1 box and even though it wasn't something I was hunting for it turned out to be a good grab. The issue opens up at Belle Reve with Nightshade talking to father Craemer and basically giving him her life's story starting with her childhood leading all the way up through the events of Suicide Squad 1 - 13. As some of you may know Nightshade is the daughter of a fugitive princess from "The Land of Nightshades" who ended up marrying some up and coming politician who is Nightshade's father. And as we see here Nightshade joined the Squad as an eventual means to an end for some personal matters.

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As far as I know Nightshade never hooked up with either Flag or Nemesis. Like she said here Flag took the Squad way too seriously and Nemisis, . . . well even though she did feel something for him too he was just that "nice guy" and we all know how that goes.

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On the other hand I'm pretty sure she did hook up with Captain Atom given their long history together even though some where along the lines he was also tapping Plastique's ass. But can you blame him I bet that French Canadian action must have been . . .explosive. Captain Atom may be "Nobody's favorite super hero" but at least he gets plenty of tail.

As you can see from the footnote here this story concludes with a lead in to Suicide Squad issues 14-16 which was the Nightshade Odyssey story line in which Nightshade would finally get to use The Squad on the before mentioned personal mission. Interesting enough upon reviewing those issues I now see that there is a footnote for Secret Origins 28 in Suicide Squad 15.