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Batman (1940) #354
Conway’s starting to wrap up his big storyline and, again, it’s bumpy. He’s got Vicki Vale rushing off to see Bruce–Bruce who hasn’t thought of Vicki since she first showed up two dozen issues ago (she’s been around as a plot twist)–not to mention Hugo Strange showing up at the end, back from the dead.… 📖
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Marvel Team-Up 141 (May 1984)
Wow, Priest can write. I’ve liked his stuff, been impressed what he could do with Marvel superheroes, but this issue is just fantastic. Maybe because he… he writes thought balloons like they’re internal monologue and not declarative statements, not opportunities for expository shortcuts. He also should write Batman, because he borrows Batman and Jim Gordon’s… 📖
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The Amazing Spider-Man 252 (May 1984)
Tom DeFalco really likes expository dialogue and thought balloons, not to mention narration. Peter Parker cannot shut up he’s talking to himself so much, then there’s the Black Cat thinking about recent events to catch the reader up. Strangely, the issue opens on this amusing exchange between Jonah and Robbie about the best way to… 📖
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Detective Comics 521 (December 1982)
Good to know editorial disconnect isn’t something recent. Conway apparently hadn’t been reading the excellent Catwoman backups running in his issues of Batman and Detective because here he’s got her guest-starring and menacing Vicki Vale and acting… well, cat-shit crazy. Sadly, the issue features some of the best Vicki Vale writing Conway has done since… 📖
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Batman 354 (December 1982)
Conway’s starting to wrap up his big storyline and, again, it’s bumpy. He’s got Vicki Vale rushing off to see Bruce–Bruce who hasn’t thought of Vicki since she first showed up two dozen issues ago (she’s been around as a plot twist)–not to mention Hugo Strange showing up at the end, back from the dead.… 📖
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Chew (2009) #5
This issue promises nothing will be the same in Chew again. I think it means we’ve know got the situation established–the government covered up a hundred million people dying as a bird flu thing. But Tony’s partner, the fat guy, knows it’s not true. So he’s going to do whatever he can to find out… 📖
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Chew (2009) #4
Well. I wanted subplots. I certainly got subplots. The issue opens with a subplot–the hit out on protagonist Tony–then Layman does a layered narrative (which always sounds good, but sometimes it’s just so you can force interest in a story by showing something interesting)–then we get another subplot (Tony’s brother is in trouble). Then the… 📖
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Chew (2009) #3
So I think I’m starting to understand how Layman’s using the bird flu. It’s his subplot. Instead of an actual subplot, he’s got this big political situation going on. In some ways, serialized television has ruined comic books. It’s funny since it’s been around since the eighties at least (“Hill Street”) but only got “popular”… 📖
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Chew (2009) #2
I like how Layman uses his letters page to crap mouth DC. It really defines the audience for the book. He wastes half an issue on the incredibly stupid office politics–turns out the FDA has violent bullies running the place (think Gene Hunt but without caring about justice)–and then makes a crack about DC ruining… 📖
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Chew (2009) #1
I imagine creator Layman will be able to get Hollywood to option Chew, but turning it into a movie or TV show will be somewhat problematic. I’d heard the concept–protagonist Tony Chu (get it, Chu? The book’s full of those) gets a psychic read off things he chews, including people–but, so far, the selling point… 📖
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Chew 5 (October 2009)
This issue promises nothing will be the same in Chew again. I think it means we’ve know got the situation established–the government covered up a hundred million people dying as a bird flu thing. But Tony’s partner, the fat guy, knows it’s not true. So he’s going to do whatever he can to find out… 📖
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Chew 4 (September 2009)
Well. I wanted subplots. I certainly got subplots. The issue opens with a subplot–the hit out on protagonist Tony–then Layman does a layered narrative (which always sounds good, but sometimes it’s just so you can force interest in a story by showing something interesting)–then we get another subplot (Tony’s brother is in trouble). Then the… 📖
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Chew 3 (August 2009)
So I think I’m starting to understand how Layman’s using the bird flu. It’s his subplot. Instead of an actual subplot, he’s got this big political situation going on. In some ways, serialized television has ruined comic books. It’s funny since it’s been around since the eighties at least (“Hill Street”) but only got “popular”… 📖
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Chew 2 (July 2009)
I like how Layman uses his letters page to crap mouth DC. It really defines the audience for the book. He wastes half an issue on the incredibly stupid office politics–turns out the FDA has violent bullies running the place (think Gene Hunt but without caring about justice)–and then makes a crack about DC ruining… 📖
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Chew 1 (June 2009)
I imagine creator Layman will be able to get Hollywood to option Chew, but turning it into a movie or TV show will be somewhat problematic. I’d heard the concept–protagonist Tony Chu (get it, Chu? The book’s full of those) gets a psychic read off things he chews, including people–but, so far, the selling point… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #520
You know what… I’m not sure I’ve seen a better inker on Newton than Alfredo Alcala. The art this issue is exceptional. It’s so wonderful, it makes up for Conway’s leap off the judgement bridge. The story itself isn’t bad. Batman is putting together all the clues about Rupert Thorne, as Thorne hires Dr. Thirteen… 📖
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Unknown Soldier (2008) #21
This issue, which Dysart tells from an omniscient first person point of view of an AK-47, might be the perfect example of the comic book medium’s narrative potential. I cannot think of any other medium where such a story could be told. Without the visuals, it would not work, so prose is out. As a… 📖
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Detective Comics 520 (November 1982)
You know what… I’m not sure I’ve seen a better inker on Newton than Alfredo Alcala. The art this issue is exceptional. It’s so wonderful, it makes up for Conway’s leap off the judgement bridge. The story itself isn’t bad. Batman is putting together all the clues about Rupert Thorne, as Thorne hires Dr. Thirteen… 📖
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Batman (1940) #352
It’s Batman versus the sky pirates! The bad guy’s name is Colonel Blimp. He and his pirates fly around in a tricked out zeppelin. Of course, the issue doesn’t open with the sky pirates. It opens with the Gotham police admitting their beating up ex-commissioner Gordon because he’s investigating election fraud. They make this admission… 📖
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Batman 352 (October 1982)
It’s Batman versus the sky pirates! The bad guy’s name is Colonel Blimp. He and his pirates fly around in a tricked out zeppelin. Of course, the issue doesn’t open with the sky pirates. It opens with the Gotham police admitting their beating up ex-commissioner Gordon because he’s investigating election fraud. They make this admission… 📖
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Unknown Soldier (2008) #20
It’s sort of a mellow issue. It’s an all action issue, with Moses on the run from some cattle raiders. He meets up with this family also on the run from them and the family gets stuck helping Moses try to fend them off. What’s mellow about the issue is Dysart’s approach–it’s told from the… 📖
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Before Midnight (1933, Lambert Hillyer)
Ralph Bellamy gets top billing here, but he doesn’t deserve it. I’m always stunned when, with a reasonably early feature motion picture like Before Midnight, the filmmakers are clearly exhausted with the genre. Midnight‘s a big house mystery (enclosed setting, certain number of suspects) but the opening establishes the majority of the film is set… 📖
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Unknown Soldier (2008) #19
Once again, Dysart does the unexpected. This issue picks up exactly where the last one left off, only the last issue made it seem like he wasn’t going to concentrate on showing the big battle scene. But he does. In fact, there are three two page spreads in this issue. It’s the most action I… 📖
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Batman (1940) #351
The Batman as a vampire story sort of limps its way to the finish line, with Conway filling the issue with just about everything else he can to pad it out. There’s Gordon investigating something–it has to do with Rupert Thorne, though Gordon doesn’t know it yet. There’s a Human Target cameo (Alfred hired Chance… 📖
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White Zombie (1932, Victor Halperin)
For a while, I almost thought White Zombie was going to feature a good Bela Lugosi performance. It does not. However, it does feature one of the best Bela Lugosi performances I’ve ever seen. He plays a zombie master who controls his helpless zombies (who mostly do manual labor for Lugosi at his sugar mill–I… 📖
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Batman 351 (September 1982)
The Batman as a vampire story sort of limps it’s way to the finish line, with Conway filling the issue with just about everything else he can to pad it out. There’s Gordon investigating something–it has to do with Rupert Thorne, though Gordon doesn’t know it yet. There’s a Human Target cameo (Alfred hired Chance… 📖
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The Hunter (2009)
Hey, why is Darwyn Cooke doing the adaptation for that Mel Gibson movie Payback ten years late? Oh, right, just the same source material. But who was really clamoring for an adaptation of the Hunter? Cooke excels with the art and creating an unglamorous feel for early sixties New York, but there’s something missing with… 📖
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The Hunter (2009)
Hey, why is Darwyn Cooke doing the adaptation for that Mel Gibson movie Payback ten years late? Oh, right, just the same source material. But who was really clamoring for an adaptation of the Hunter? Cooke excels with the art and creating an unglamorous feel for early sixties New York, but there’s something missing with… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #517
They’re really dragging out the Batman turns into a vampire thing. I think this issue is the fourth or fifth of the story. I guess it’s fine, since it’s Colan and DeZuniga again and I am curious how everything is going to tie together. Conway and Levitz are finally bringing Vicki Vale into Batman’s story,… 📖
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Highlander II: The Quickening (1991, Russell Mulcahy), the international version
When subjecting myself to Highlander II, I wanted to find the worst version possible. Over the years, the director and then the producers have returned to the film and tried to edit the footage into something more palatable. Of course, these attempts are not just hampered by the use of existing footage (it’s not like… 📖
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Detective Comics 517 (August 1982)
They’re really dragging out the Batman turns into a vampire thing. I think this issue is the fourth or fifth of the story. I guess it’s fine, since it’s Colan and DeZuniga again and I am curious how everything is going to tie together. Conway and Levitz are finally bringing Vicki Vale into Batman’s story,… 📖
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Batman (1940) #350
Once again, the Bruce Jones Catwoman story is a lot more interesting than the Batman feature. But I’ll go in printing order and start with the Batman. The art this issue is Gene Colan and Tony DeZuniga; so far, DeZuniga is the best inker for Colan on Batman, especially given the vampires. The whole issue… 📖
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Human Target Special (1991) #1
Beyond Who’s Who, I don’t think I’ve read much regular DC Human Target. This special only partially counts as it was a tie-in for the failed nineties television adaptation. It’s decent, far better than I was expecting. The art from Burchett and Giordano is good and Verheiden’s writing is fine. There’s a lot of humor–Christopher… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #516
The Batman feature is problematic to say the least. Batman infiltrates a school for criminals as “Matches” Malone (gag) and is quickly found out. He then has to dispatch of the criminals as Batman. Conway and Kupperberg–not sure why Conway needed an assist here, there’s no heavy lifting in this issue–never explain how the criminals… 📖
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Batman 350 (August 1982)
Once again, the Bruce Jones Catwoman story is a lot more interesting than the Batman feature. But I’ll go in printing order and start with the Batman. The art this issue is Gene Colan and Tony DeZuniga; so far, DeZuniga is the best inker for Colan on Batman, especially given the vampires. The whole issue… 📖
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Batman (1940) #349
It’s Robin versus his vampire girlfriend while Alfred hires the Human Target to trick Vicki Vale and Jim Gordon decides to stop being a mope. Batman barely makes an appearance–he shows up at the beginning to remind the reader he or she needs to pick up the month’s Detective Comics. It’s a weird few pages,… 📖