The Quarter Bin

Of all the Marvel superhero movies released thus far, none had me as eager to see it as Captain America: The First Avenger. Cap is one of my all-time favorite superheroes, and his Marvel film debut was the last necessary cog to put in place before next year’s Avengers film. Was Marvel truly saving the best for last? Partially. Captain America: The First Avenger is a fairly formulaic film, but it manages to entertain and hit all the right notes. Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Tapalansky and Alex Eckman-Lawn’s zombie noir, Awakening, has reached its grim conclusion. The Awakening Omnibus captures every gritty page of the series and gives the reader a glimpse of small-town life in the wake of an escalating undead crisis. Enjoy this advanced review of the zombie thriller from Archaia Press.

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no denying my love for the Harry Potter series, books and films. However, there are times when it seems like the movie adaptations make better companions to the novels than standalone films. Having to condense hundreds and hundreds of pages into a two-hour cinematic experience is no easy task, and inevitably things have to get cut or rewritten. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 may actually have more changes from its source material than any previous Harry Potter movie, which will no doubt incense some die-hard fans. The result is an action-packed second half of a dark, emotional story that’s a fitting farewell, though it suffers from some of the same problems as the previous films.

Don’t worry, this will be a spoiler-free review.

Read the rest of this entry »

The second issue of Ron Marz’s and Lee Moder’s creator-owned vampire ninja saga Shinku arrived this week, and it was none too soon. I’d been looking forward to this book more than most everything else hitting shelves this month, and the creative team does not disappoint one bit. Read the rest of this entry »

For many fans of Marvel Comics’ Ultimate line of books, there are two distinct periods: Pre-Ultimatum and Post-Ultimatum. Almost all agree that anything that came out before the ill thought out Ultimatum miniseries was pretty good and a fun read. However, anything that came out after Ultimatum (or as I call it, the Loeb Era) has generally been, how can I put it…? Well, crap. Fortunately, the Pre-Ultimatum era gave us loads of great comics to revisit in trade paperback collections. One of the highlights for me is the concluding chapter of the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, Ultimate Extinction. Read the rest of this entry »

I consider myself a pretty big Green Lantern fan. I’ve been reading the various Green Lantern comics faithfully for more than fifteen years. Imagine my excitement when Warner Brothers and DC Comics announced they’d finally be bringing GL to the silver screen. Sadly, that excitement was completely wiped away by my experience at the movie theater this week. While Green Lantern isn’t anywhere near as terrible as Ghost Rider, Punisher: War Zone, Batman and Robin, or Elektra, the film doesn’t just struggle to be coherent, it also has a hard time just being fun. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not going to lie, my expectations weren’t really all that high for the Captain America game. Hell, I’ll say it: they were downright low. Last month’s Thor proved that developers are still more than happy to release absolutely awful movie tie-in games to superhero films, even in a world where Batman: Arkham Asylum proved that it was more than possible to turn the genre into something absolutely brilliant. That said, in my time with the game, I walked away not only impressed, but excited to see if the rest of the game could hold up the level of quality presented in the demo. Read the rest of this entry »

The Justice League of America has had its ups and downs over the years. It seems for every “Lightning Saga” or “Generation Lost,” we also have something like… the Detroit League (the less said the better). But I think everyone can agree that one of the greatest eras in the League’s recent history was Grant Morrison’s 41 issue run when the book was titled simply JLA. He brought the “Original Seven” back together and gave us a monthly widescreen adventure that starred the best and brightest of the DC Universe. One of the finest stories to come out of this period was not in the monthly comic, however. That story took place in an original graphic novel where Morrison teamed with frequent collaborator Frank Quitely called JLA: Earth 2. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s going to be a big year for Green Lantern. The comics are arguably as popular as they’ve ever been, there’s a blockbuster movie coming out in just over a week, and there’s even a Green Lantern video game hitting stores today. Not one to be left out, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video have teamed once again for another direct-to-DVD feature focusing on the Corps. Like Batman: Gotham Knight before it, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is an anthology tale made up of a few different short stories. Though Hal takes a back seat to some of the lesser known members of the Green Lantern Corps, Emerald Knights is still an entertaining film that casual and hardcore fans can both enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

I love the X-Men. I love the animated series from the 90s. I love the current comics run by Matt Fraction. I love mohawk Storm. Cyclops will forever be one of my favorite characters in any form of fiction. When Fox and Marvel teamed with Bryan Singer to make the first X-Men movie, I was ecstatic. The same went for the sequel. The third movie wasn’t so great, but Fox knew that these were characters that could keep bringing people back to the theater. After the announcement that X-Men: First Class was going back to the beginning under the helm of Matthew Vaughn, I was skeptical, but held out hope nonetheless. Thankfully, I was rewarded for my optimism as X-Men: First Class, flawed as it is, might just be the best X-Men film to date. Read the rest of this entry »