January 2019

The Flash – Seeing Red

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Flash – Seeing Red
  • wiki: link

The Flash - Seeing Red television review

After laying low, Cicada (Chris Klein) returns with a vengeance by killing multiple meta-humans in one night. Hoping to remove those who the serial killer plans to target next, Barry (Grant Gustin) and the group round up the group of metas provided to Cicada by a member of the Central City Police Force (while Cecille goes after the leak in the police department). I’ve never been a huge fan of vengeful Barry Allen. I think the character works best as hopeful and striving to use his powers to make the world a better place (while fighting talking gorillas and guys throwing boomerangs at him). However, after Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) is seriously injured by Cicada and is slow to heal, Barry’s father instincts go into overdrive and nearly push the flash into eliminating the threat of Cicada permanently. Thankfully, Nora is fully recovered by the end of the episode ending the Flash’s murderous streak before it claims its first victim.

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Arrow – My Name is Emiko Queen

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – My Name is Emiko Queen
  • wiki: link

Arrow returns from mid-season hiatus unmasking the new Green Arrow and revealing it to be… Oliver Queen‘s never-before-mentioned half-sister Emiko (Sea Shimooka). A comic character originally inspired by Thea (a character created specifically for the show), there’s a weird circular logic to her introduction here as Emiko seems like an unusual choice to throw into the mix this far into the show’s run (especially presenting her as a near carbon-copy of Oliver from the show’s first couple of seasons complete with her own book of names to cross off). While we have to wait until next week for the first conversation between the siblings, this episode does see Emiko put her own posse together as Rene (Rick Gonzalez) and Curtis (Echo Kellum) join her fight.

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Black Widow #1

/ / Comics

Black Widow #1 comic reviewDespite her recent death (something which lacks the finality it once meant in the Marvel Universe), Black Widow returns in a new series. Black Widow #1 is a bit of a schizophrenic issue that attempts to honor the character’s past while pushing Natasha in a new direction.

The issue opens with a Black Widow and Captain America team-up versus a Captain America impostor and giant robots whose true goal… um, well is to be the ones who get stopped by Captain America and Black Widow, I guess. After a somewhat icy farewell, Natasha heads to Madripoor looking to get lost and find a new purposes as far away from the Avengers as possible.

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Detective Comics #996

/ / Comics

Detective Comics #996 comic reviewAfter learning nothing of interest from the Arkham Asylum menagerie, Batman‘s investigation into the recent attacks on the close allies of both Batman and Bruce Wayne leads to Paris and a reunion with Ducard who has already figured out the truth of attacks which the Dark Knight Detective won’t piece together until the issue’s conclusion: someone is systematically targeting everyone who had a hand in creating Batman.

While the mystery continues to deepen, and we also see nods to various aspects of Batman’s past (such visiting his old sensei in the Himalayas where a certain flower grows), there are still aspects of the arc I’m not fond of starting with the bizarre Clayface-ish nightmare creature that attacks Batman and Ducard. While there’s obviously someone quite intelligent behind the attacks on those who helped Bruce Wayne become Batman, I’m not wild about his stable of horror movie henchmen.

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Deadly Class – Reagan Youth

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Deadly Class – Reagan Youth
  • wiki: link

Deadly Class - Reagan Youth television review

Based on the comic by Rick Remender, the pilot episode of Deadly Class introduces us to teenager Marcus Lopez Arguello (Benjamin Wadsworth) living on the streets and hunted by the police after burning down his orphanage (and the children inside). Lost and suicidal, Marcus is offered a new life by enrolling in a secretive school of assassins known as King’s Dominion. Run by the headmaster Master Lin (Benedict Wong), the school is compromised of the sons and daughters of mob bosses and murderers, and those (like Marcus) who have shown an aptitude for killing. With ruthless cliques of teenage killers and equally demented teachers (Wong, Erica Cerra, Henry Rollins), King’s Dominion may get Marcus off the street but offers a new host of problems including his classmates who don’t like child killers and his first homework assignment: kill someone who deserves it.

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