Got a new toy today… check it out!
Author Archives: J.R.
Black Widow: The Name of the Rose comic review
BLACK WIDOW: THE NAME OF THE ROSE
I have always been more of a fan of the low or no powered superheroes who tell low key crime stories: I like my heroes grounded a little. Subsequently, I really like characters like Batman, The Punisher, Captain America, Robin, Catwoman and their ilk… and yes, I know some of them are ‘enhanced’ but those with powers still have a gravity effect to them: no flying, invisibility, they can’t burst into flames etc etc. At the end of the day, if you fire enough bullets into these guys, they are going to die, and I like that sense of vulnerability. Don’t get me wrong, the galaxy spanning stories of Superman or Silver Surfer can be exiting, but I like to think that these guys are defending my neighbourhood, or country.
In amongst these characters is the wonderful Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanov, whom I have been a fan of since I first saw her in Daredevil comics in the 70s when she was ol’ Hornhead’s main squeeze. Thankfully since those days of the female hero not being of any use unless they are the girlfriend of a hero are gone, and the Widow has become a major player in the Marvel Universe, not just due to the many mini-series’ and regular series’ that have been released, but also due to the excellent portrayal by Scarlett Johansson in the various Marvel movies.
*sigh* Scarlett…
This review is of the hardcover collection of the story The Name of the Rose, which collects Black Widow Issues 1 to 5, with some additional bits and pieces from Enter the Heroic Age issue 1.
Story: There is essentially two stories in this collection. The first, Kelly Sue DeConnick’s story Coppélia, is little more than a throwaway introduction to the character, which name drops Captain America and displays an ineffective origin of Black Widow in 8 pages, told through actions rather than rehashing the story we have seen a hundred times over, but essentially, if you don’t know her origin, it appears a little vague. It’s generic, and the art does it no favours, but more on that later.
The main story, The Name of the Rose, is written by New York Times best selling fantasy author Marjorie Liu, who won a comics industry Eisner award for her work on Image Comics’ Monstress.
The story tells of Black Widow meeting up with an old acquaintance name Black Rose, but after the meeting she is assaulted and cut open. She is returned to Avengers HQ where Tony Stark (Iron Man), Logan (Wolverine) and James Buchanan Barnes (the Winter Soldier) watch over her whilst she recovers, but soon, rumours start spreading about Black Widow having files on all her friends, and she she will eventually use them to destroy their lives. Is this true, or is she being manipulated by someone from her past…
It feels to me like this story is one that writers only lend to heroines: the story ends up being about love, and loves lost, instead of just telling a good spy story. It seems to me it’s rare that a spy story would have a tender core to it, and for me it doesn’t quite sit well with Black Widow, who, let’s face it, is a reformed killer.
To her credit though, Widow is shown as a scrappy fighter with a streak of cruelty that leans her more towards the bad guy side of the Marvel Universe than the whit hat brigade!
It’s well written, but I would have preferred a straight spy story a lá James Bond or some of the Bendis/ Maleev stories that in recent years have been told through Daredevil or even the Death of Captain America tale delivered by Ed Brubaker.
The last few pages of this book are dedicated to an illustrated text history of Black Widow as well, me the alternate covers the the individual issues of the comic that came out on release.
Score: ***
Art: Spanish artist Daniel Acuña’s art in this is amazing, as his work mostly is. His work looks like it is done with something like Copic markers and has very few black lines on the interior surface of a subject, instead using darker shades of the main colour to provide those lines. He sites John Romita and Jack Kirby as influences and they are definitely present, along with Hal Foster and Kevin Nolan.
This being a more realistic spy story than a straight up superhero one, his style suits it perfectly and is a pleasure to look at. A special note has to go to the cover of this collection as the Widow looks a little like Kat Von D, upon whom I have somewhat of a crush.
Unfortunately, the introduction to the story, from the aforementioned ‘Enter the Heroic Age’ comic, is done by far lesser artists Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson, provide a lacklustre first few pages to this collection. Their artistic efforts feel little more than a by-the-numbers ‘how to draw comics’ experience. If you overlook those pages, you’ll certainly enjoy the rest. The whole book loses a point for their efforts.
Score: ****
WIRIA: It’s a cool spy story, with only a touch of superheroics in it, illustrated beautifully… you’ll return to this for sure!
First Day of Summer Review: Jaws (1975)
It’s the first day of summer, and what better way to celebrate than with a cinematic classic all about sun and fun. Here’s a corker from the re-watch pile…
Jaws (1975)
My unfortunately damaged cover of the bluray of Jaws
Film: Realistically, I shouldn’t have to write anything in this part of the review, because you’ve all seen Jaws. All I should have to write is ‘it’s Jaws, it’s good’.
If you haven’t seen Jaws, you need to go and see it. Now. Sure it’s not my favourite film in the world, but it’s an important film, it’s a well made film, it’s a well cast film. It’s fun, it’s horrifying, and if you live in Australia on the coast, it’s perpetually topical!
I first saw Jaws on the big screen as a very young kid: God only knows what my parents were thinking, but i was both in awe of it, and scared to death by it. Actually, I have Jaws to thank for introducing me to ‘the shower’ because after I saw it, I didn’t want to be immersed in water again… even though I carried around a rubber shark for months afterwards, and that shark shared every shower with me!
Jaws was directed by legendary director Steven Spielberg, based on a novel, by Peter Benchley, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Carl Gottlieb.
Jaws: Roy Scheider as Chief Brody
So for those who haven’t seen it (which I have just discovered includes my wife!!!) here’s a brief synopsis: Amity Island is a beautiful, sleepy town which in summer is invaded by tourists who enjoy its beaches and sunny disposition.
This year, though, is different, as Police Chief Brady (Roy Scheider) finds his normally peaceful existence invaded by a shark… but not just any shark, a gigantic, hungry great white shark, which is killing again and again. He enlists the help of a marine biologist, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and an old shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt the shark, but will all of them survive?
I can’t really criticise the film as it’s probably a perfect monster movie, even though it’s not one of my favourites (which is why I have only given it 4 stars), but it’s certainly a must watch, especially in this beautifully restored edition.
Score: ****
The Australian bluray menu of Jaws
Format: This Australian bluray release of Jaws runs for about 2 hours and 4 minutes and is presented in a beautifully restored widescreen 2.35:1 visual with a spectacular DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio track. Possibly the best film restoration I’ve seen to date.
Score: *****
Extras: Extras, extras, extras? Boy oh boy, do we have extras!!
First, there’s a bunch of deleted scenes and outtakes that are interesting, but really don’t add much to the film and it is better off without them.
The Making of Jaws is a spectacular, 2 hour mainly retrospective documentary that really, if you have any questions about how this film was made or the origins of the story, they’ll be answered here!
Jaws: the iconic opening sequence
The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of Jaws is a series of ten small fan-made featurettes, exclusive to this bluray release, that are a passionate look at the making and perpetuity of the film.
Jaws: the Restoration looks at how Jaws was restored for this bluray release and the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures. As a fan of cinema, this is a pretty interesting watch.
From the Vaults is a look at the making of Jaws, but made in the 70s with some great archival footage.
Jaws Archives has 4 series of still galleries celebrating the making and international marketing of the film. Normally I’m not a huge fan of still galleries but this shows a hell of a lot of the posters and Day bills for the advertising of the movie, so it gets a pass.
Last, but not least, we have the original theatrical trailer for the film.
This edition also comes with a digital copy of the film.
Score: *****
WISIA: Its not just one of the greatest Monster movies ever made, it’s one of the best movies ever made, everyone should watch it multiple times!
Jaws: a little underwater head
Amsterdamned (1988) Review
One from the to watch pile…
Amsterdamned (1988)
Shameless Screen Entertainment’s DVD release of Amsterdamned
Film: Shameless Screen Entertainment (henceforth referred to as SSE) are very clever when it comes to the way they release films. As a collector, I am nutty about getting every disc in a numbered collection, and to have the spines make up the company name any various images just makes my brain absolutely freak out if I am missing just one.
SSE have made a few mistakes with their layout of the collection which has caused double ups and other criticisms, but mostly I have been happy with the films they have released, in this case, and number 37 in the collection, we have the Dutch action/ giallo Amsterdamned.
A killer is stalking the streets of Amsterdam… well, not the streets: he travels from victim to victim via the canals, dressed in a diving suit. Our hero, tough guy police officer Eric Vissel (Huub Stapel) is on the case after the discovery of a victim, a prostitute, who was left hanging from a bridge by her feet over a canal.
Amsterdamned: police work at work.
As the body count increases, the pressure on Vissel to capture him does too, but will he and his 80s mullet have the police skills to do so?
So is this a giallo or an action film? Personally I’m not sure, but knowing that director Dick Maas is such a fan of American films, I’d say the latter. The movie is steeped in 80s fashion and there are mullets as far as the eye can see, but the one thing that is omnipresent is the attempt to replicate the bombasticity of the 80s action film which isn’t quite 100% pulled off as there is still a reserved Northern European-ness to it.
Here lies the problem. The film is confused by its identity and doesn’t quite pull off the inherent nastiness and sleaze of a giallo, nor is its machismo fully in place enough for it to feel like a proper action film.
The motorcycle chase scene has to be singled out and identified as pretty amazing. The stunt driver on the bike looks like he’s going to stack it on more than one occasion and has DNA entrenched in The Italian Job… OK, that might be overselling it somewhat, but it’s a pretty cool 3 minute chase. The real winner in this film is the boat chase. Some truly outstanding manipulation of speedboats in the canal make for an epically cool, almost James Bond-y sequence.
Unfortunately the dubbing is occasionally laughable. Not the dialogue itself (though at times it is a bit hokey), but certainly the execution of it. The accents of the characters are… actually I don’t know WHAT they are! I have known several Dutch people over the years and this isn’t quite what their accent sounds like!
If I’m totally honest with this review, and I am always honest, this is about the eighth time I have attempted to watch this film. Why so many? Well, I have fallen asleep during it every single time.
Amsterdamned: dead hooker on a canal boat
That’s not generally a glowing recommendation and it’s not that this is any worse a story than many second string giallos, it’s just paced quite oddly and that makes it feel longer than it is.
Score: **
Shameless Screen Entertainment’s Amsterdamned DVD menu
Format: Amsterdamned was reviewed on the SSE UK DVD which runs for approximately 109 minutes and is presented in a slightly above average 16×9 letterboxed image with an apparently remastered, and quite clear, Dolby 2.0 audio. It’s not digital perfection, but it’s ok.
Score: ***
Extras: The disc opens with trailers for other SSE movies The House With Laughing Windows, Dellamorte Dellamore and 4 Flies on Grey Velvet, before we get to the menu screen.
Other extras on this disc though, include Amsterdamned: the City – the Film – the Makers is a dubbed making-of documentary that is actually pretty interesting even though its quality is not the sharpest, which isn’t a criticism of the doco, but just a reflection of the video of the time.
There’s an image gallery, which I hate!! Not this one in particular though as it shows promo pics and advertising rather than just movie stills.
In addition to the aforementioned trailers, we also have trailers for The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, Almost Human, The New York Ripper, Don’t Torture a Duckling, Cannibal Holocaust and House on the Edge of the Park. The is also a ‘still’ trailer advertising a company called ‘Argent’.
There is also a Dutch, English and American trailer for the film.
SSE have also given us a reversible cover for this release.
Score: ***1/2
WISIA: I probably won’t watch it again, just because it took me so long to get through it once!
Amsterdamned: getting a little head on a boat
Harley Quinn’s Greatest Hits Review
HARLEY QUINN’S GREATEST HITS
There is no doubt in my mind that DC Comics do female superheroes better than Marvel. Of my top five favourite super heroines, 4 of them are DC: Supergirl, Power Girl, Batgirl, and Harley Quinn. (For full disclosure’s sake, the Marvel heroine is She-Hulk).
I’ve been a fan of Harley Quinn since her first comic appearance in The Batman Adventures issue #12, but I really liked what I saw in the Bruce Timm/ Paul Dini story Mad Love, though they came at a time when I was drifting out of comics because of how awful they had become in the early 90s so I missed out on a whole pile of her adventures until I became re-united with her when her own comic became a part of the New 52 Universe that DC started several years ago. She wasn’t one of the 52 launch titles, but once her comic started, I was well and truly into it. Harley’s actual first appearance was actually in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as a sidekick of the Joker.
Who is Harley Quinn, I hear you ask? Harley’s origin sees her as a psychologist Harleen Quinzel who was manipulated by the Joker whilst treating him in Arkham Asylum to fall in love with him. The Joker has a firm ‘treat ‘me mean and keep ‘me keen’ ethos and that really works on Harley.
The Joker decided at one point that she cramped his style, so he attempted to kill her but she was rescued by Poison Ivy (another Batman villain) who assisted in her recovery by giving her various plant potions which also made her more limber, and increased her strength and endurance. She is also resistant to most toxins, including the Joker’s laughing gas.
Harley’s popularity also rose from her appearance in the amazing ‘Arkham’ video game series and she has been a cosplay favourite for a while too. Her appearance in the TV show Birds of Prey went by with just a blip, but her portrayal by Margot Robbie in 2016’s film Suicide Squad nailed her look into people’s regular day-to-day wear,
This collection is a series of 8 stories taken from various comics which show the evolution of the character from throwaway gun moll to superhero in her own right (if you have read the Harley Quinn/ Power Girl 6 issue mini series written by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Palmiotti, Stéphan Roux and Justin Gray). Her character goes from flat out villain to crazy fun-loving within a few pages that represent many years, so it’s funny to see just how much the character has evolved to suit the affection the comic loving populace have for her. Some of the stories are only a few pages long and serves as character vignettes, but others really display the character is all her crazy lights!
Story: This being a historical collection, there is a variety of writes who have worked on it: Scott Beatty, Kelly Puckett, Jeph Loeb, Paul Dini, Adam Glass, Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti and Rob Williams, and the stories are presented in historical order. The Rob Williams story is the most recent and clearly sees the film version of the Suicide Squad become a more comic related group and is an interesting look at where Harley’s mind is as far as wanting to be a superhero is concerned, but for me, the Kicked in the Teeth, from 2011’s Suicide Squad #1 by Adam Glass is the most effective story. The least effective story is Jeph Loeb’s The Opera but only because it was a past of a bigger story that was presented over 12 issues, and there are minor subplots unresolved. It’s not a criticism of Loeb’s writing, but more it’s appearance here is a misstep as it is only a snippet of an entire Batman story.
All in all it’s an uneven story collection, but as a character evolution and dissection, it almost works!
Score: ***1/2
Art: As with the story, the art is of varying quality, but is mostly representative of the story it is presenting. Modern comics art legend Jim Lee makes two appearances here, his better art featuring in the The Opera story, but for me, the fun, cartoony are of Mike Parobeck, whose art lends itself to both an animated or a traditional comic style, in the Batgirl: Day One.
Overall though, I really liked all of the art in this collection.
Score: ****
WIRIA: Am I gonna read a collection of one of my favourite characters more than once? Of course I am.
Halloween Batgirl DC Bombshell Unboxing
I have grabbed a few new DC Bombshells over the last few weeks, and here’s an unboxing of one of them:
Lights Out (2016) Review
One from the to watch pile…
Lights Out (2016)
Lights Out Australian bluray cover
Film: In 2013, a short film called ‘Lights Out’ was shared over and over by various groups of horror fans I belong to on Facebook and other social media sources. This film, made by David F. Sandberg, was submitted to several horror movie competitions, and won Best Director at the Who’s There Film Challenge and Best Short at FANT Bilbao in 2014.
To date this film has had about 3.3 million views on YouTube, and even IMDB gives it a rating of 7.8/10: that’s a whole point MORE than Insidious. I suppose I’d better share the video here: Lights Out short film!
Go and watch it, I’ll be here when you come back.
….
So you’ve finally returned: watched the ‘ten best horror shorts’ parts 1 and 2 and a few funny cat videos did you?
Anyway, Sandberg has been given the occasion to turn his short into a feature film… and what a feature film it is! If this is an example of the quality of what he’ll be putting out, I’ll be watching every film he makes… though it’s been announced that he’ll be directing the sequel to the awful Annabelle, so maybe not EVERYTHING.
Our films starts with the horrible death of Paul (Billy Burke) whose wife, Sophie (Maria Bello) goes into a spiral of depression, a spiral she has encountered previously in her life on several occasions, which includes talking to herself, quite animatedly.
Lights Out: Gabriel Bateman and Maria Bello
Her son, Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is experiencing a few anomalies as well, including nocturnal visits from ‘Diana’, a spectre who can only be exposed in complete darkness, and disappears when the lights come on.
Being kept awake at night in fear of ‘Diana’, Martin keeps falling asleep in class, and Child Protection Services are called. When his mother can’t be reached, his estranged half-sister, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer), is called to help, and when she sees Martin going through something very similar to a situation when her father left her mother, she decides to step in.
Lights Out: Teresa Palmer as Rebecca
It appears, though, that maybe ‘Diana’ is more than a fantasy, and her history intertwined with Sophie’s, but can the family survive her interference?
This movie is an excellent film, well acted and beautifully shot, and those who are regularly effected by Lewton’s Bus will spend their viewing attempting to avoid sharting. The appearance of Australian Teresa Palmer and a favourite of mine, Maria Bello (who played a similar role in the film The Dark) made me happy as well.
I also liked the fact that Sandberg was able to take his short and develop it into a cohesive, feature length (albeit only 80 minutes) film. This was done well by screenplay writer, Eric Heisserer, whose work I usual have little appreciation for as previous efforts by him that I am aware of are the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, and The Thing remake, prequel, sequel or whatever the hell that thing was. He also did Final Destination 5, so not a complete loss, but he has certainly redeemed himself with this script. It’s not a perfect script, and honestly the appearance of Diana in the main character’s lives is certainly steeped in Freddy Krueger’s lore. A non-horror fan may no see it, but a fan definitely will!
A special mention also has to go to the direction for the least annoying kid ever submitted to film!
All in all, even though I am not a fan of ghost/ demonic type films, I found this to be entertaining and well executed.
Score: ***1/2
Australian bluray Lights Out menu screen
Format: This review was performed on the Australian, region B Bluray of the film which runs for about 80 minutes. It is presented in an equally amazing 2.40:1 image and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Score: *****
Extras: Deleted scenes which, honestly, the film is better off without!
Score: *
WISIA: I’m sure the jump scares will have lost their power, but the film was well acted, and well scary, so yeah, I’d give it another go.
Lights Out: crazy writing is never a good sign!
Viral (2016) Review
One from the to watch pile…
Viral (2016)
Viral Australian bluray
Film: I love it when a film that you have no prior knowledge of makes an impression. I don’t even know why I bought this. I was in JB Hifi looking to get rid of the money burning a hole in my pocket, and I liked the cover of this, and the back made it sound OK too.
In general I like body horror films, the work of David Cronenberg being of a particular high point, for me Shivers or Rabid being my favourites, and this film has trappings of his films, but with a more accessible story to appeal to a greater mass market. Imagine if Cronenberg directed a John Hughes movie in a post-mainstream zombie movie world!
Viral: Sofia Black-D’Elia
Emma (Sofia Black-D’Elia), her sister Stacy (Analeigh Tipton) and their father (Michael Kelly… who is used to virus infected people after his jaunt in the Dawn of the Dead remake) have moved to a new small town after a traumatic family event, which temporarily is keeping their mother away. The girls are typical teenagers, and their father has taken a position as a science teacher at a local high school… but something awful is happening… a horrible new parasite has emerged: first a hunger, then a sore throat, the fitting, then the vomiting of blood…
Viral: a bloody mouthful
As their parents are stuck out of the now quarantined town, Emma and Stacy have to fend for themselves, and defend themselves from those whose bodies are now possessed by these creatures… but what would happen if one of THEM became infected?
The first thing I have to say about this film is how beautifully shot it is. The film is directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, responsible for directing both Paranormal Activity 2 and 3, but don’t let that turn you off. This film was written by the writer of those two films as well, Christopher Landon, who also gave us Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, a film I enjoyed, and adapted to a screenplay by Barbara Marshall.
There a some scenes that are just shot almost as a travelogue, or as if a static piece of art was being created. The scenery possibly has a lot to do with that as well as this town the film is set in seems to have mountains all around it and it’s just breathtaking.
The script is witty, with an amusing jibe about zombies aimed at Michael Kelly’s science teacher, and the female lead is delightfully refreshing in her realistic practicality, and her quiet, non-Hollywood beauty. If I am to criticise the script at all, it is to the characters that surround her: her sister is TOO much of a rebel, her sister’s boyfriends is TOO much of an idiot and of course, parents are amped up to be obnoxious jerks, but the movie is told from the point-of-view of a teen/ younger sister so that’s expected. At least in her eyes, the father is seen as a wholly good person and when she finds out that even he is flawed, the way she sees the world changes.
It really is a great take on the body horror sub-genre, with just a little zombie thrown, in (not enough for it to be classed as a ‘zombie’ film, but just enough to point it out) and it’s young cast make it a pretty cool entry level, Z for Zachariah styled horror film. See it!
Score: ****
Viral bluray title screen
Format: This region B, Australian release bluray of Viral runs for just over 85 minutes and is presented in an immaculate 2.40:1 image with a matching DTS HD 5.1 audio. This image is so sharp that it reveals every single hair, zit and pock mark on the actor’s faces.
Score: *****
Extras: Not a sausage! Nothing!
Score: 0
WISIA: Thoroughly enjoyed this film so yes, definitely will get watched again.
Viral: peekaboo!
Death of a Ghost Hunter (2007) Review
One from the to watch pile…
Death of a Ghost Hunter (2007)
Death of a Ghost Hunter Australian DVD cover
Film: As a collector of stuff, occasionally I am captured by that thing called ‘The Bargain’. We have all seen them: buy two get one free (even when we only want two), ten DVDs for 20 dollars at a closing video store (you can find seven you want but force yourself up to the ten for the ‘value’)… Hell, even as I write this I just bought an extra vinyl record from an eBay store as the price of postage for 2 records was the same as 3!
I am as easily manipulated as everyone else!
This film made its way to my collection via one of those ‘buy ten’ at a closing video store, which is why you may have noticed the ‘horror’ and ‘$3 weekly’ stickers on the photo above.
This film was directed and co-written by Sean Tretta, who also directed The Prometheus Project and The Great American Snuff Film which was co-written by Tretta’s co-writer here, Mike Marsh.
Our film starts with a backstory of a family who were killed in 1982, and how a paranormal investigator, Carter Simms (Patti Tindall) 20 years later met her final destination at whilst investigating the haunting that had been reported over the former 20 years.
Death of a Ghost Hunter: Patti Tindall as Carter
Carter has been employed by the nephew of the murdered couple, Seth (Gordon Clark) to find out what is going in the house, and accompanying Carter is a videographer, Colin (Mike Marsh), journalist Yvette (Davina Joy) and local church representative Mary (Lindsay Page). The four of them need to spend three nights in the house and perform a full investigation, but will they all get out alive? I mean, obviously the title suggests that at least Carter doesn’t but… will the rest of them?!?
This film won best screenplay at the New York City Horror Film Festival and mostly, except for a few dumb jokes and some dumb lines (whilst looking through a window into a structure, one of the characters declares ‘there’s a room in there’… yeah, there WOULD be), it is an interesting story. The problem is the execution.
First, those ‘jokes’ I mentioned are delivered so terribly that they fall totally flat. The reason the jokes are delivered so badly is that other than Patti Tindall, most of the cast are at best, of a high school drama club video standard. Even though lines are ‘delivered’, it’s not supposed to be like a pizza. A little passion or effort could go into it!
Death of a Ghost Hunter: Lindsay Page as Mary
Secondly, it commits a crime that I can’t forgive. I hate ‘found footage’, shaky cam rubbish, and some of this is done in such a style. The scenes done in this way are awkward and hokey, and even part of the script pulls the piss out of The Blair Witch Project, which doesn’t sit well with the rest of the story. Weirdly, memories and flashbacks are also told in weird ‘old film’ Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse styled, but the memories weren’t films… so why are they made to look like old film stock? If it were like Sinister where the crimes were filmed I’d get it, but this makes no sense at all.
The final issue is the way it was filmed. I mentioned ‘high school drama club’ and the direction/ editing is mostly of a similar level. At times I can’t figure out if some of the photographic decisions were made for artistic reasons or were accidents that they decided to leave in. The mastering of the DVD doesn’t do any of the cinematography any favours either.
All in all it’s a great story, executed poorly, which is a shame.
Score: *1/2
Death of a Ghost Hunter Menu Screen
Format: This review was performed whilst watching the Australian, region 4 PAL DVD which runs for approximately 105 minutes… though it does at times feel like 21,005 minutes (the first 20 minutes feel like they go for an hour themselves). The film is presented in 16×9 widescreen image which is of a fairly average quality, not artefact laden, just grainy and not very sharp. The soundtrack, presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 is fine though.
Score: **1/2
Extras: Only two extras on this disc: a few deleted scenes, which are introduced by the director and the trailer. As usual, the film is better without the scenes shown here and the addition of the director’s comments are interesting (there’s always a reason why these things get cut), and the trailer does the job.
Score: **
WISIA: Nup, and actually, i wish I hadn’t seen it once!
Death of a Ghost Hunter: a G-G-G-Ghost!!
Justice League Dark Volume 1: In The Dark Review
Justice League Dark Volume 1: In The Dark
As far as I am concerned, the state of mainstream comics, that is Marvel and DC, is in somewhat of a state of horrible flux at the moment. When I was a kid (yes, it’s going to be one of THOSE stories), comics were up to high numbers in their issue count, but those high numbers don’t count anymore as the companies seem to think that high numbers deter new readers from buying the product, but in a world where the movies and TV shows seem to be more popular than the reading matter, I find that that doesn’t really matter anymore.
DC make attempts to reinvent itself every couple of years, and the New 52 was a (now aborted) idea which took everything in the DC universe and completely rebooted it after the events in a company crossover called ‘Flashpoint’. Funnily enough, I was booted from a comic forum as I dared to suggest that seeing as how DC were focused on the number ’52’ that it would only last a little over 4 years (52 months).
I was right, and Convergence, another company crossover, cleaned the slate again, except for the stuff the fans accepted, so basically the DC universe is now built around popularity rather than creativity.
Anyway, enough of my old comic fan whinging, and onto the review of Justice League Dark Volume 1: In The Dark!
Justice League Dark went for about 40 issues and looked at the heroes who are responsible for the darker, more magical villains that may attack the DC universe. This collection contains the first 6 issues of the regular comic collected into one softcover volume. It also contains character sketches by artist Mikel Janin.
The interesting thing about this comic is the abandonment of the Vertigo adult imprint that DC once championed to return these characters back into the regular DC Universe, and as far as this collection is concerned, the name Justice League Dark is the name of the comic, not the actual group.
The group, in this book, contains Zatanna, Deadman, Shade the Changing Man, John Constantine and Madame Xanadu. There is also special appearances by Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Dove.
Story: This first book is written by Peter Milligan who is responsible for one of my favourite 2000AD comics of all time, Bad Company. Over his career he has worked for many comic companies, including Eclipse and Marvel, where he did the insane and awesome X-statix with Madman’s Mike Allred. Over the years I have read much of his stuff and been in awe of it… but not this time.
This collection of Justice League Dark really tells of the origin of the JLD, and how their formation is caused by the insanity of June Moon, who has been separated from her Enchantress alter-ego. The regular Justice League attempt to intervene in her threats, but Zatanna brings a stop to that as she knows the forces of magic are above that of the JLA.
Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu keeps having visions of the deaths of those who will become the JLD unless they join together, but all the future members resist… as the Enchantress’s insanity continues…
Like I said, I normally love Milligan’s quirky ideas and writing, and whilst the script in this story is good, I found the story to be lacking something me the character combination to be lacking any cohesion. Was that the point? Maybe, but for me it made for awkward storytelling.
Score: **1/2
Art: The art in this collection is done by Mikel Janin, a Spanish former-architect who has been in comics since 2010. His artwork is of a very European style, me all the characters, male and female are beautiful examples of physical excellence. His layouts are clear and tell the story with some visual excellence. I find his artwork to be reminiscent of Milo Manara’s, but with less genitalia.
The cover by Ryan Sook is cool too, though I find his art occasionally to be derivative of Adam Hughes or Terry Dodson. That means it pretty awesome though.
Score: ****
WIRIA: I probably won’t read this again, but I certainly will revisit the artwork as I found Janin’s style compelling.
Digital Retribution 