Alan Rapp

Detective Comics #1

/ / Comics

Before the DC Reboot writer Scott Snyder was penning a strong arc in the final issues of Detective Comics about James Gordon Jr. and the relationships of the Gordon family with the Bat-Family. Tony Daniel takes over the writing duties here as part of DC’s “New 52,” and if this issue foreshadows one hellova bumpy ride.

The first problem is the issue never tells us when it takes place. Is it at the beginning of the New 52 with Action Comics and Justice League, is it in the current timeline with most of the other #1’s, or does it take place sometime in-between?

The comic focuses on Batman‘s attempt to capture the Joker, but it’s unclear how many times Batman and the Joker have met. Is this their first meeting, their tenth, one-hundredth? The comic isn’t sure, so how can the reader be?

Even with these issues the first issue may not be good but it is, for the most part passable, – at least until the gruesome final panel. In an attempt to give us a gritty Batman story Daniel gives us the face of one of Batman’s villains nailed to a wall. This one’s best forgotten. Pass.

[DC, $2.99]

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Coming Soon

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: The Artist
  • IMDB: link

At the dawn of talking motion pictures a silent movie star (Jean Dujardin) faces uncertainty while falling for an up and coming dancer (Bérénice Bejo) on the verge of stardom. I’ve heard very little about this film from writer/director Michel Hazanavicius, but if it’s as good as the trailer (presented as a silent film) then I know I’m going to have to search it out. John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle, Beth Grant, and Ed Lauter also star. The Artist begins its US release on November 23rd.

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Justice League International #1

/ / Comics

jli-v2-1-coverI was surprised how much I liked DC’s first new title Justice League. The reboot of Justice League International isn’t quite as good, but it’s a solid start for another Justice League title.

The original JLI run by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire to this day remains one of the best team comics DC, or any publisher, has put out. Way before its time, JLI focused on character relationships, humor, and petty arguments among heroes at least as much as it did with the League saving the day.

The new JLI lacks the zaniness of Giffen’s run, and isn’t as strong as Judd Winick‘s year-long Justice League: Generation Lost tale. It’s also missing a few key pieces that could really spice up the team dynamic (including Guy Gardner, who quits halfway through this first issue).

The first issue is primarily concerned with setting up the team (which includes Fire, Ice, Rocket Red, Vixen, August General in Iron, and Godiva) under the leadership of Booster Gold, who in the relaunch is still widely regarded as a glory hound.

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Comic Rack

/ / Comics

It’s a new week so it must be time to talk about comics! Welcome to the RazorFine Comic Rack boys and girls. Pull up a bean bag and take a seat at feet of the master as we offer you this quick list of all kinds of comic book goodness set to hit comic shops and bookstores this week from all your favorite publishers including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Archie, Dynamite, Image Comics, and others.

This week includes Captain America, Cobra, Daredevil, Deadpool, Ducktales, Fear Itself, Herc, Infinite, Jughead, Moon Girl, New Avengers, Scalped, Super Dinosaur, Uncanny X-Force, X-Men Legacy, the first issues of 27 Second Set, Batman and Robin, Batwoman, Bonnie Lass, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9, Deathstroke, Demon Knights, Green Lantern, Grifter, Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games, Legion Lost, Pigs, Red Lanterns, Suicide Squad, Superboy, and the final issues of Mystery Men, Sherlock Holmes: Year One, and Supreme Power.

Enjoy issue #145

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Warrior

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Warrior
  • IMDb: link

warrior-posterIn 1976 a struggling young actor and writer starred in a film he had penned. The tale of an unlikely underdog from the streets going the distance with the champ made critics and audiences take notice and transformed Sylvester Stallone into a star. The next year Rocky would take home three Oscars including Best Picture. And Hollywood has been trying to remake it ever since.

Much like last year’s critically acclaimed The Fighter (a film others liked more than I did), Warrior begins as a broken family drama concerning two brothers and ends as a typical Hollywood underdog tale complete with training montages and a final showdown in the middle of the ring. Warrior is certainly a little more polished than The Fighter, and presented in a more mainstream Hollywood fashion, but the results are (not surprisingly) very similar.

The film follows the lives of two estranged brothers, both in need of an influx of cash, who separately begin fighting in local MMA matches and are chosen to take part in the sport’s biggest payday ever where 16 fighters will fight to earn a purse of $5,000,000.

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