Alan Rapp

Convergence #0

/ / Comics

Convergence #0For the first time since the launch of the New 52 three-and-half years ago I’m actually excited about a mainstream DC event focused on offering classic versions of heroes from different decades. DC’s major Spring-Summer storyline kicks off her not with a roar but a whimper that despite giving us multiple versions of Braniac feels every bit a New 52 story.

Convergence #0 sets up the premise of the event with Braniac stealing cities from all over the Multiverse for his own collection. However the only hero we see in the first issue is the current version of Superman taken captive by the alien menace who changes form throughout the issue from the classic version to a zombie look and new version with various others in-between including the Bronze Age robotic version and his look from Superman: The New Animated Adventures.

After reading Convergence #0 I have more doubt about the event and whether the number of writers and artists tasked can get the right feel for the various characters. I have no doubt there will be gems to be discovered over the course of multiple months but after this incredibly overpriced $5 kick-off issue I’m less sure about the overall event. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $4.99]

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Person of Interest – Search and Destroy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Person of Interest – Search and Destroy
  • wiki: link

Person of Interest - Search and Destroy

Unable to locate The Machine, Samaritan destroys the life of the creator of the world’s most prolific anitvirus software in order to use his program for its own ends. Destroying his reputation, work, and marriage before assigning him for deletion Sulaiman Khan (Aasif Mandvi) becomes Reese‘s (Jim Caviezel) latest number. But to keep the man alive they’ll need the help of Root (Amy Acker) and answers for what Samaritan is using the stolen software to search for.

…

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iZombie – Liv and Let Clive

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: iZombie – Liv and Let Clive
  • wiki: link

“You got your ass kicked by a girl. Get over it.”

iZombie - Liv and Let Clive

After eating the brains of an Asian gang member Liv (Rose McIver) becomes paranoid, partly because of the dead man’s personality and partly due to the dead man’s flashbacks which suggest Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) may be a dirty cop. Liv’s new paranoid state also goes into overdrive fearing Major (Robert Buckley) may be contemplating letting the sexy coed (Elise Gatien) he’s being seeing become his new roommate whereas Liv has someone else in mind for the position.

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Guilty Pleasure – How to Beat the High Cost of Living

/ / Home Video
  • Title: How to Beat the High Cost of Living
  • IMDb: link

how-to-beat-the-high-cost-of-living-blu-rayReleased in 1980, How to Beat the High Cost of Living starred Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin, and Jessica Lange as an unlikely trio of friends who turn to crime to pay for the high cost of inflation slowly strangling each of their lives when Jane’s (Curtin) husband drains their bank account to run off with his secretary, Louise (Lange) is being sued by her husband (Richard Benjamin) fighting off an IRS audit, and the divorced Jane (Saint James) with a homeless father (Eddie Albert) and three kids is struggling to make ends meet with another baby on the way.

The goofy screenplay by Robert Kaufman involving the three women working to rob a giant glass ball full of money in the local mall during its anniversary sale isn’t exactly high concept, but the three leads, and a supporting cast that includes Benjamin, Albert, Dabney Coleman, and Fred Willard, somehow makes (most of) it work as a guilty pleasure heist flick most memorable for Jane Curtain’s striptease during the middle of the mall robbery.

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Guardians Team-Up #4

/ / Comics

Guardians Team-Up #4The latest issue of Guardians Team-Up pairs Gamora and She-Hulk together when Thanos‘ daughter ends up on Earth hunted by an army of Chitauri. While She-Hulk is mistaken by the aliens as their prey Gamora is mistaken for local police for New York’s favorite green-skinned lawyer/super-hero.

I wouldn’t call Guardians Team-Up disappointing exactly but with the wide range of possible team-ups the Marvel Universe offers the comic hasn’t exactly lived up to its premise. Although I had a mixed reaction to Otto Schmidt’s artwork, the pairing of Gamora and She-Hulk is the first issue of the series to really capture the madcap fun such a title can be used for.

I could have done without the flashbacks to Gamora’s childhood with her father which feel a bit unnecessary, and take pages away from the damage the two women can inflict on an entire spaceship of baddies (especially after they start dressing alike). And at $4 a pop the comic still feels a bit overpriced for what its offering. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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