Oliver Harper’s Black Rain Retrospective
Oliver Harper takes a look back at 1989’s Black Rain.
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March 2020
Darth Vader #2
- Title: Darth Vader #2
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Greg Pak
- Artist: Raff Ienco
The unexpected appearance of a familiar face rocks the Dark Lord of the Sith as Darth Vader #2 picks up from the first-issue cliffhanger of Darth Vader coming face-to-face with Padme Amidala. As expected, the woman is revealed to be Sabé (the former Queen of Naboo’s doppelganger and bodyguard). Although, in my opinion, artist Raff Ienco could have made her look a little more like Keira Knightley.
Issue #2 offers quite a bit of art, but not much story. Many of the panel’s focus on Vader’s remembrance of his lost love brought back into focus of seeing someone wearing her face years later. Despite neither trusting each other, the pair find a mutual bond in wanting to know the truth about happened to Amidala (although the way the events have played out since then we know for certain Darth Vader never learned the full truth about the final moments of Padme’s life).
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Samurai Jack – Episode XVII: Jack and the Scotsman II
- Title: Samurai Jack – Episode XVII: Jack and the Scotsman II
- wiki: link
Throwback Thursday takes us back to the adventures of the time-displaced samurai and his quest to make his way home. “Episode XVII” offers the return of the Scotsman (John DiMaggio) who seeks out Jack (Phil LaMarr) after his wife (Ruth Williamson) is kidnapped by a robotic demon cult that wants to make soup out of her (okay, maybe not the best thought out premise of the series). Pride and tradition prevent the Scotsman from asking his clansmen for help, who Jack gets to meet at one point in the episode, but the samurai takes little convincing before agreeing to the quest.
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Batman & the Outsiders #11
- Title: Batman & the Outsiders #11
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
- Artist: Dexter Soy
The Outsiders battle the minions of Ra’s al Ghul in Batman & the Outsiders #11 as the sudden arrival of Katana, Signal and Orphan helps Black Lightning and Lady Shiva even the odds against Ra’s soldiers. There’s a fair bit of action here involving several members of the team battling various villains including Kaliber and Karma but there are also some nice smaller moments between mother and daughter as Shiva’s plan to get closer to her daughter appears to be working.
The comic also features some scenes between Batman and Sofia Ramos who the Dark Knight Detective helps make some decisions concerning the face she wants to show to the world and the symbol she wishes to become. Batman also offers a few words of wisdom about who Ra’s al Ghul is and about the similarities between himself and the Demon’s Head.
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Doctor Sleep
- Title: Doctor Sleep
- IMDb: link
Set decades after the events of The Shining, Doctor Sleep catches up with the troubled Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) years after his visit to the Overlook Hotel. Director Mike Flanagan is smart in letting the story stand on its own without feeling the need to offer too many flashbacks or recreations to the Stanley Kubrick film, at least until the film’s final act which is where Doctor Sleep begins to struggle a bit matching its own style to that of Kubrick.
Both movies were adapted from novels by Stephen King. Whether its simply the script treatments or the original source material, Doctor Sleep is much more straight-forward and linear in its plot progression (even while showcasing events from different group perspectives within the film).
After finally putting his life back together, Dan is made aware of a cult led by Rebecca Ferguson hunting down and stealing the “steam” of those with psychic abilities and the teenage girl (Kyliegh Curran) who is their next target. To save both their lives, Dan will be forced to confront the ghosts of his past.
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