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  • Murphy
  • Member Since May 8th, 2009

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Kick-Ass: The Movie: The Review (ComicsAlliance)

Mar 16th 5:13 PM: Where's the hype? Yes, it's coming from the film's makers, and yes, that's their job. But most of them can't help but throw around the "realistic" word in interviews, which is why I'm bringing it up so much here. It's as if they don't want to come out and say "we made a big, fun, not particularly deep super-hero fantasy and we think you'll have a great time watching it". There's no shame in admitting that, it would be honest, and it would bring a lot of people to the movie.

I think that, on its own, the movie is fun but no masterpiece, enjoyable to watch in the moment but not something that leaves a lasting, memorable impression. But if you didn't get that from the review, I don't know what repeating again adds here.  

I'll keep jumping on Millar about this book because it's his attempt to take the comic in two drastically different directions at once that weakened the original work. And it's the legacy of carrying those moments along for the ride that leads to the weaker parts on the film. I'm not entirely anti-Millar. All but the final issue of Old Man Logan were good and I'd read more if it kept going. His new run on the Ultimates has a good action movie feel and has been a lot of fun so far. But I'll stick to my opinion that Kick Ass was not his finest book. 

Hot Ink -- Detective Comics #861, Batman and Robin #7, Kick-Ass #8, Robocop #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Jan 28th 4:26 PM: Minor addition to my last comment. I'd remembered his run on the Ultimates incorrectly and blended the last two arcs together in my head. I liked Millar's run up through the first 18 or so issues, it was only the last arc when I thought the book fell apart.

Hot Ink -- Detective Comics #861, Batman and Robin #7, Kick-Ass #8, Robocop #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Jan 28th 3:46 PM: Let me start with the ones I've liked. I really enjoyed the ending to Red Son. I liked how the climax revolved around characters outsmarting one another, because if you want me to believe that you're able to take down Superman, a physical fight isn't going to do it. I also thought the build up to that resolution was handled well. I enjoyed the ends of the first two story arcs of the Ultimates. These were big action scenes, but Millar did a good job at setting the stakes for the characters, and made me invested in what they were involved in. The third and final arc he did for the Ultimates is where he started to lose me. The fight went on far, far too long, the villains were underdeveloped, the resolution was rushed, and the individual characters were given less space to grow than they had in the earlier parts of the series.

Other recent stuff I've been unhappy with: Civil War started with an interesting premised but quickly was derailed into just a big fight scene reliant on too many characters having sudden changes to justify their actions. I thought that Old Man Logan was fun, up until the giant size resolution issue that was one long poorly paced catalogue of Wolverine murdering people with minimal dialogue. The last few pages were okay, but they should have been the focus of the issue.

I don't remember Wanted all that well, but from what I do remember I wasn't happy with the resolution there, either.

I will admit, though, that I've been enjoying his current run back on Ultimate Comics Avengers as a fun action movie comic.

Worst of the Worst: Ultimatum (ComicsAlliance)

Jan 22nd 6:15 PM: All right, a few thoughts on this-

First, yes, both male and female superheroes wear revealing, skin tight outfits. But I'm having a hard time thinking of examples where male sex objects are used to sell comics. I can't think of a lot of comics that feature Batman or Captain America's ass or package prominently displayed on the cover with the intent to sell books. Okay, now replace those two examples with Wonder Woman and Ms. Marvel and tell me how many examples you think you could find with a breasts or ass-centric cover. There's an important difference in the goals of how men and women are sexualized in comics. 

Second, I naturally distrust any comic that's clearly trying to sell based primarily on sex appeal. Simply from a quality standpoint, I worry that some comics publishers are thinking "why should we bother to work out hardest on story and art when we can just slap a cleavage shot on the cover and sell a ton of books in a much easier way". I don't have a problem with sex appeal when it's not used as a substitute for quality. 

And lastly, I wouldn't complain about the over-sexualization of women if I didn't actually see the effects of it in the comics community in the real world. Generally, I love talking with and listening to comics creators and fans, they're usually a friendly, easy-going community that I like being a part of. But then every so often out of nowhere someone comes out and says something that makes it sound like they see women as some sort of strange, indecipherable alien creature who should all be judged solely based on pleasant to look at they are. And I'm shocked that it's 2010 and people think like that, so I can't help but blame the content of the comics we all read a little bit. There are a lot of really smart, talented women out there who'd loved to be a part of the process of enjoying and making comics, and as long as we carry on with this ridiculous old boys club mentality we're going to be scaring a number of them away, quite possibly for good. That's the reason I'll keep complaining about how some female characters are used in comics, at least until I see a lot less evidence of the effect on fans. 

Hot Ink -- Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 & Suicide Squad #67, Siege #1 & Siege Embedded #1, Orc Stain #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Jan 16th 12:51 PM: Thanks! A lot of coverage I've seen of the issue felt the same way about it. Frequent ComicsAlliance contributor Chris Sims makes some great points in his review here: http://www.the-isb.com/?p=3052. And the past week's edition of the Awesomed by Comics podcast also has a good discussion of the Love vs. Compassion issue and how Wonder Woman's assignment feels arbitrary.

Comic Book Album Covers: Sequential Artists' Greatest Hits (ComicsAlliance)

Jan 16th 12:41 AM: A fictional cover example I'm fond of- In the series Spaced, Simon Pegg's character is a comics artist who does a piece of cover art for a band called "God's 3rd Leg". The actual artwork is an over-the-top example of comic artist album covers that's done by real life comic artist Jim Murray. I can't seem to find a picture, but it shows up at the 5:53 mark here-

http://www.hulu.com/watch/84729/spaced-beginnings

Hot Ink -- Batman 80-Page Giant, Forgetless #1, Incorruptible #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Dec 17th 2:30 PM: I entirely agree with you about the Mr. Freeze story. The fact that a confrontation between Commissioner Gordon and Freeze was not one of the better works in a blizzard themed anthology is a little bit of a letdown.

A Cornucopia of Commander Rikers (ComicsAlliance)

Dec 4th 11:05 AM: It's worth noting that since this post went up two of the four images added since have involved Riker's trombone. Your plea obviously tapped into significant need among Riker afficionados.

Hot Ink -- Stumptown #1, Assault on New Olympus, Deadpool Team-Up #899, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Nov 9th 4:04 PM: Yeah, that sounds right. "Where am I?", and I think maybe then "Who am I and what I doing here?" So I guess they waited until Cap Reborn to start paraphrasing Stockdale.

Hot Ink -- Stumptown #1, Assault on New Olympus, Deadpool Team-Up #899, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #1 (ComicsAlliance)

Nov 9th 3:07 PM: Here's visual evidence to verify the awesomeness of your claim:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh79/lorrdraiden/ThorvsHerc_.jpg

Although I hope you don't mind if I point out that you're probably thinking of Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who said the original line to Dan Quayle in the '88 VP debate. Stockdale was Perot's running mate in '92, I think.