Chris Braak's Blog, page 30
October 6, 2011
The Kinda-Sorta Best Punisher Movie
Well, the missus-to-be is on a family vacation this week, which means it's up to me to amuse myself. So I did what any bored, temporarily single American male comics geek might do: I watched all three Punisher movies again. Part of my recent re-acquaintance with the Punisher stems from my and the internet's collective [...]
October 2, 2011
The DC New 52 Reviews: Blackhawks, Justice League Dark, The Flash
Regular comics readers talk about "event fatigue" a lot – it's when there are so many "summer blockbuster"-type crossovers that it simply becomes exhausting mustering up any enthusiasm for them. Of course, despite the fact that everyone complains about it, the sales are always highest during these periods, so Marvel and DC can be forgiven [...]
September 29, 2011
DC's Market Research Survey
Everything that has happened with the New 52 has made me think that this whole thing was only halfway thought out (maybe three quarters, AT BEST). Here's DC's online market research survey, provided by the Nielsen Market Research Concern. Go ahead and take it if you want, then we can talk about it a little. [...]
September 27, 2011
The New DC 52 Reviews: Swamp Thing and Justice League International
First up, let me talk about Swamp Thing, by Scott Snyder, with art by somebody. Yanick Paquette (art) and Nathan Fairbairn (colors) (this is what the internet tells me; be advised, DC! You should start sending me promo copies if you want me to get names right!). Anyway, Swamp Thing actually IS one of the [...]
The DC New 52 Reviews: 'Batman,' 'Wonder Woman'
I don't think I have to review Batman #1: It was Good. But really, just read the Comics Alliance review, I concur with everything Sims said over there. So I want to focus on one of the odder results of The Flash screwing up time-travel and remaking the universe (or whatever the hell reason we're [...]
September 26, 2011
NOT The DCU New 52 Reviews: The First Law of Mad Science
The First Law of Mad Science written by Mike Isenberg and Oliver Mertz art by Daniel Lapham Mike Isenberg is a friend of mine, and that always makes for a leery proposition when it comes time to review a comic book. Of course I'm always happy to help get someone's name around, but what if [...]
September 23, 2011
DC's New 52 Reviews: Supergirl
Supergirl (written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson, and drawn by Mahmud Asrar) I wasn't going to review this, for reason of personal bias that I'm not going to go into right now, but I've calmed down a little and am willing to take a crack at it. This was I guess an "okay" book, in the sense that I [...]
The Perils of Power, the Effects of Empowerment
Some time ago, I read a comment on the internet from some anonymous commenter about Power Girl: the notoriously well-endowed DC comics character. That comment went something along these lines: "I wouldn't ever say anything about her boobs! She could knock my head off!" This is obviously stupid, but in a rare moment of restraint [...]
September 22, 2011
The New DCU and Its Travails
It seems obvious now that I'm writing it down, and I can just see the words in front of me, but the essential problem with DC and their 52-new issue reboot/relaunch/reinvention is that it was really just a huge publicity stunt. By which I mean: they didn't actually change their *product* in any meaningful way; [...]
DC's New 52 Reviews: Nightwing
Man, I was hoping my only problem with Nightwing was that it just wasn't as on the mark as Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel's first issue of the former Robin's solo adventures from back in 1996. But after a second read, I only WISH that was the problem. There's a lot of discussion about what [...]
