“Booster Trouble” Written by: Mark Russell Art by: Rick Leonardi Inks by: Scott Hana Colors by: Steve Buccellato Letters by: Dave Sharpe Cover by: Mike and Laura Allred
Today saw the release of the first wave of DC’s Superhero/Hanna-Barbera comics. And, like everyone else, I was a bit skeptical on this concept at first. But Booster Gold is one of my favorite characters, and The Flintstones is a classic property (whose recent DC relaunch has been met with much acclaim) so I jumped right into it, as it seemed like the best fit for me to check this idea out. I’m REALLY glad I did, because Booster Gold/Flintstones #1 was one of the most fun, clever, and smart comics I have read lately. It really takes what could have been a silly cash-grab concept and elevates it, all while keeping the humor you would expect in a concept like this. Read on to find out 11 things that make Booster Gold/Flintstones #1 a must read this week.
That Mike and Laura Allred cover! ‘Nuff said!
The Gotham City of 2472 (specifically the kid running around in the Joker mask).
“Holy Gygax!” (All hail Dungeons & Dragons)
The perfect balance of the seemingly light tone to make some very pointed and dark observations.
Rick Leonardi, Scott Hanna, and Steve Buccellato creating some crisp, clean, and beautiful art.
The bit with the ATM that has artificial intelligence.
The banter between Booster and Skeets (never gets old!)
The one-panel joke with the “Batman Security” guard on page 7 (check out his arm placement).
The reaction the Flintstone gang has to Booster and his personality.
Mark Russell actually created a tightly crafted, clever, meaningful and humorous time-travel story.
“It’s theology, you wouldn’t understand”
Don’t let the far out concept keep you from checking this book out. It’s a total breath of fresh air, and one of the funniest books I’ve read recently. Get on it now!
20th Century Fox has released a new teaser for Matt Reeves’ War For The Planet Of The Apes film announcing that the full trailer will land tomorrow.
The short teaser doesn’t reveal much but we do get a better idea of how big in scale this movie will be. This is the third chapter in the new Apes franchise and from the looks of this trailer, it will certainly be the biggest. Luckily we don’t have to wait very long to see the full-length trailer.
Watch the teaser below!
In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.
War For The Planet Of The Apes stars Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Karin Konoval, Judy Greer and Terry Notary. The film lands in theaters on July 14, 2017!
A new trailer has been released for Luc Besson’s upcoming space adventure, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. This is the second trailer to be released and teases what we can expect from the film in terms of the larger narrative. This trailer also does a great job of displaying Besson’s style and some of the spectacular visuals that are expected with the release of this film.
Watch the trailer below!
In the 28th century, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) maintain order throughout the universe for the government of the human territories. Under orders from their commander (Clive Owen), the duo embark on a mission to Alpha, an intergalactic city where diverse species share their technology and resources for the betterment of all. The ever-expanding metropolis is also home to sinister forces that jeopardize the future of mankind.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets stars Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, John Goodman, Herbie Hancock, and Kris Wu. The film will land in theaters on July 21, 2017!
DC’s Hanna-Barbera comic books have been fantastic for the most part. The curious collaboration continues to surprise people with quality reading. This week, they kick it into high gear with a number of crossovers. The Green Lantern/Space Ghost book ends up being a golden cosmic partnership.
Of the four crossover annuals, this one made the most sense on the surface. It easily could have been handled poorly, but writer James Tynion IV clearly cared about both characters and took full advantage.
While answering a mysterious transmission asking for help, Hal Jordan and Space Ghost cross paths in the search of space justice. After butting heads initially (duh), the two join forces to help liberate a planet full of oppressed dreamers. Before parting ways, the two heroes inspire the planet’s inhabitants to reach for the stars.
The final page of this story closes with “The Beginning.” I would have no problem with continuing adventures with these two cosmic heroes. Space Ghost and Hal Jordan riff off of each other effectively, building a strong chemistry in just one short story. Given how many portals Space Ghost has traveled through in Future Quest, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see these two space cops team-up again.
Green Lantern/Space Ghost is a lighthearted tale about what inspires us to achieve our goals. It’s about the human spirit, and how any obstacle can be conquered by working together. Space Ghost’s Batman-like demeanor meshes well with Hal’s wisecracking. Even when the book falls into comic book tropes, it’s brief and a lot of fun. What could have been an over-the-top cheese-fest ends up being a minimum eye roll experience.
The only factor keeping this from being a perfect crossover experience is the art. The photo-realistic approach was a curious one. It’s really effective and beautiful when they’re in space. Unfortunately once they touch down on the planet’s surface, things get ugly. The backgrounds do no favors for the characters in the forefront, in fact they overpower them in every panel.
The back-up story in all of these crossover annuals is to set up the next wave of DC’s Hanna-Barbera initiative. Ruff ‘N’ Ready is about a down-on-their-luck comedy duo during the golden age of television comedy. It’s a much different direction than the original cartoon.
It’s a funny, vulgar, and perverted story that visits a fun time in history. Much like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,it’s a joy to put old school cartoon’s in adult situations, just much darker.
What did you think of Green Lantern/Space Ghost? How many of the ongoing DC/Hanna-Barbera titles have you read? Let us know in the comments below!
Warner Bros. and DC Comics have released two new images from Wonder Woman. As you can see in the gallery below, the first image offers a new look at Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor. The relationship between these two characters is one of the most exciting aspects of the Wonder Woman movie and personally, I can’t wait to see how that develops when the film is released.
The second image again shows Diana and Steve but this time they’re having a few drinks and are joined by Ewen Bremner and Saïd Taghmaoui’s characters. We’re still not sure who these actors are portraying, however, Taghmaoui has previously stated that he will be playing a hero.
Check out the images below!
Before she was Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot (Chris Pine) who tells her about the massive conflict that’s raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time. Fighting alongside men in a war to end all wars, she finally discovers her full powers and true destiny.
Wonder Woman is directed by Patty Jenkins and stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner, Lucy Davis, and Saïd Taghmaoui.
In honor of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them being released on Blu-Ray yesterday, I thought I’d revisit the film and review it, as well as review the Blu-Ray itself.
Out of all of the geeky fandoms that I indulge in, Batman and Harry Potter are probably my two favorite. Both have helped shaped me in innumerable ways growing up, but the boy wizard probably changed my life in more noticeable ones than the Dark Knight ever did.
J.K. Rowling’s book series about the wide-eyed student attending a school of magic at which he fit in time to save the world in-between going to his classes not only helped me get through middle school and high school myself, but was also the initial reason I looked into attending university over in the United Kingdom, and is also the reason that my wife and I met in the first place. (No joke, I met my wife years ago on a now defunct Harry Potter forum. Shout-out to anyone out there who remembers HPANA.com!) I’ve made lifelong connections because of the iconic book series, and have done things and gone places that I probably never would have experienced had they not been written, and because of all of that combined, they’ll always hold a close, special place in my heart. So when it was announced that Warner Bros. was going to revisit the wizarding world on the big screen by adapting J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter tie-in book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I was excited, even though I had no initial idea about what to expect.
Get Prepared For Wreck It-Ralph To Break The Internet!
As announced at CinemaCon 2017, the upcoming sequel to Disney’s hit film ‘Wreck-It Ralph‘ finally has a title. The film will be called ‘Ralph Breaks The Internet‘. Disney also took to Twitter to announce the release date as well.
Next year, he’s gonna break it. 👊 Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 opens in theatres on March 9, 2018. pic.twitter.com/HFwiHd4JPK
The video game, and now Internet, themed film proved to be a massive success in 2012 and Disney looks to capture that magic again. The addition of the Internet is polarizing to some fans but it could lend its self to some great comedy.
This could also lead to hit online games like ‘Minecraft‘ and ‘World of Warcraft‘, which would look great in this animated form. Let’s hope the inclusion of memes is kept to a minimum because it will quickly date the film.
‘Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph‘ will open on March 9, 2018.
Let me know what you think of the film in the comments below!
There are times where it feels like this is Love’s thesis statement, and it can be suffocating. As I wrote earlier, this is a show where every major character teeters on a knife’s edge between being sympathetic and vulnerable or an unbearable monster. The most prominent case of this is Mickey (the fantastic Gillian Jacobs), who was more on the sympathy side towards the beginning of the season, but at the end started lingering dangerously close to the monstrous one. Gus (Paul Rust) does plenty of his own teetering, but even though he’s certainly a jerk in his own right, by the end of the season he is so thoroughly outclassed in monstrousness by Mickey that it’s hard not to feel bad for him.
The situations these two end up in because of each other are frequently so uncomfortable that I will find myself unable to look at the show while I’m “watching”; I’ll still be listening, but the awkwardness becomes so palpable at times that it can be easier to look around the room or browse Facebook while it’s on. And on a certain level, it’s brilliant that the show is capable of capturing such raw embarrassment, even when the characters aren’t yet aware they should be embarrassed. But on another level, it can make for a punishing viewing experience, and even when the show is at its most addictive, there’s always a point during the season finale where I will thank God it’s finally over. In this way, my relationship with the show is a lot like the “love” between Mickey and Gus; I don’t know why I like it, and I can’t wait for it to be over, but then I put on the next episode.
To be fair, the reason for the attraction does become more apparent in the second season than it was in the first. In the first season, there was a constant question of why someone like Mickey would ever even give an awkward dork like Gus the time of day, or why a nice guy like Gus would want anything to do with someone as emotionally unstable or irresponsible as Mickey. In the second season, the chemistry between the two leads is brought to the forefront, and a greater number of episodes focus solely on what these two are like when they’re alone together. In these moments, they just seem like a fun couple providing each other with a sense of comfort and stability.
The problem is, Love, like life, is never that simple, and drama arises from conflict. So when the relationship is threatened by distance, and then Mickey starts cheating on Gus with Dustin (Rich Sommer, playing a similar jerk to the one he played on Mad Men), everything falls apart the way everyone knew it would. But the final scene of the season, with Mickey telling Gus she wants to get serious and distracting him while Dustin escapes her balcony, feels painfully anticlimactic.
To a certain extent, this is the purpose of the show, deconstructing rom-com tropes and many storytelling conventions in general to express something the writers’ likely believe is more realistic. On any other show, Gus would have found out Dustin was there, one way or another. But he doesn’t, and ending the season this way is like watching a pin pulled from a grenade that doesn’t explode; sure, it’s safer, and nobody got hurt, but it isn’t dramatically satisfying. Of course this grenade will explode at some point down the line, but the fact that it didn’t here just made the season feel oddly incomplete. It also means that any sense of security these two get from each other is fraught with Mickey’s secret unfaithfulness.
Other random thoughts:
The conversation Gus has about Bruce Willis creates some weird continuity paradoxes within the Love universe; after all, how can Gus have a dream about Home Alone and then not recognize that Mickey’s dad is Daniel Stern?
I’m a huge pop culture junkie, but every scene with Gus’s band is painful. Whether the songs they do are supposed to be funny or just a quirky fun thing Gus does, they do not work. These are the only moments the show makes me uncomfortable without intending to.
Bertie (Claudia O’Doherty) is criminally underused, and when she is onscreen, she has to share much of her time this season with Randy. Randy is the worst, and even the weird frenetic energy of Bertie is not enough to dilute that.
Do these people only work once a week, or is Love set on some kind of perpetual Saturday? They always seem to be able to stay in bed all day, or take a random trip to some other part of L.A. This bothered me throughout the entire season.
What did everyone else think? Was the season as anticlimactic as I thought it was? Is Randy still the worst, or did you hate him less as the season went on?
Pint Pursuits Brewing Company, who brew in Guelph but have a Torontonian address, is an uncle-nephew venture according to their website’s “About Us” page. So far, Pint Pursuits has a single beer on offer, their Lord of Lupulin Pale Ale named for the gland found in hops plants which secretes aromatic oils and gives pale ales their signature aromas and flavours. Lord of Lupulin is available at an ever-increasing number of Toronto pubs, but lucky Ontarians can also pick some up at their local LCBO.
I did just that and brought home a 473-mL tall can. I’m always excited to try a new pale ale, but I’m especially grateful to Pint Pursuits for avoiding the linguistically baffling deference other Canadian brewers show when marketing their pale ales.
Canadian-brewed pale ales are so commonplace now that I, for one, think Canadian brewers should drop the labels “India Pale Ale” and “American Pale Ale” from their products. American brewers of pale ale have, for the most part, dropped “India,” instead electing to call their brews “American Pale Ales,” or APAs. So, rather than slogging through the linguistic morass that is “American-style IPA brewed in Canada,” let’s just call them Canadian Pale Ales (CPAs) or simply “pale ales” and be done with it.
But enough about ale nationalities and linguistic efficiency, let’s drink.
Pint Pursuits Brewing Co.: Lord of Lupulin Pale Ale – First Sip
Lord of Lupulin Pale Ale pours a cloudy pale yellow colour with about a quarter-inch of head that sticks around at the top of my pint glass. This brew’s three varieties of hops give Lord of Lupulin a great tropical smell. I smell notes of banana and citrus as I take my first sip. Weighing in at a respectable 52 IBUs, this brew has a noticeably bitter flavour. Traces of malt provide a sweet base for this bitter brew to explode out of. And, the relatively lively bubbles in combination with Lord of Lupulin’s bitter taste provide a crisp, clean mouthfeel.
Pint Pursuits Brewing Co.: Lord of Lupulin Pale Ale – Last Sip
The problem with reviewing nearly a hundred pale ales is that I find myself saddened at the end of each review. I want to keep drinking, but I’m out of beer. This is a great brew for the acclimatized pale ale drinker, but the lager-only crowd will likely turn their collective nose up at this 5.4% ABV brew, whatever their nationality. Pale ales like this one demand salty snacks as a companion. Chips are good in a pinch, but try this brew with some guacamole to really set it off.
Born in 1993, it has been quite a journey getting to this point in my life. Recently I have been looking back to older movies realizing how influential some were. Others have managed to stay masterpieces in their own right. So take a journey with me as we go back to 1993 and count down the top five films of that year.
5Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (May 1993)
Who doesn’t love Bruce Lee? Okay, I know the real Bruce Lee isn’t the actor. Any chance to look into his life, however, is well worth my time. While it wasn’t the best film of the year I can appreciate the effort that was done. To recreate his life and honor him for what he did within the industry is always a joy to watch.
4The Nightmare Before Christmas (October 1993)
This is Halloween, this is Halloween, and hopefully this song is stuck in your head now. Besides the catchy tunes, this animated film had shown us a masterclass in stop motion animation. Other than it’s excellent animation, this film, as well as the next three in our countdown, transcend time, each and every one still viewed to the utmost today.
3Jurassic Park (June 1993)
Imagining myself side by side with dinosaurs was only a fantasy until this film came out. Jurassic Park ranks 3rd on my list for its incredible special effects combined with a breathtaking soundtrack. While some may argue Jurassic Park deserves #1 out of all the movies that debuted in 1993 I disagree. My argument is that a great story wins me over, rather than the beauty portrayed visually. This being said, Jurassic Park did set a standard for movies to come which is why I rate it so highly.
2Groundhog Day (February 1993)
Sometime in our lives, we have probably wished to redo a moment or get to know someone a bit more. When pushed into the scenario, though, how would you respond? Watching Bill Murray play the role of Phil Connors in Groundhog Day was a treat. While Phil may be a chauvinistic pig, we catch a glimpse at the evolution of a character as he re-lives the same day on repeat. Why is this above Jurassic Park? Maybe I am sucker for good plots, comedy and a bit of love, but it is something I wouldn’t get bored of.
1Schindler’s List (December 1993)
In my mind, Schindler’s List is the indisputable #1 film of 1993. Having taken a few classes in relation to the Holocaust, Schindler’s List did what needed to be done by dramatizing it to an extent where the public would not view it as another Holocaust documentary. Spielberg then chooses to shoot in black and white, as the color would symbolize life thus setting the tone for the movie. The exposure of the holocaust that this movie provides would allow it to standalone as a masterpiece. Yet another message is shown. That once exposed to a different culture of people, maybe we were wrong for ever thinking they were different in the first place.
If you think I’ve gotten my list wrong, please comment below!
“Booster Trouble”
Don’t let the far out concept keep you from checking this book out. It’s a total breath of fresh air, and one of the funniest books I’ve read recently. Get on it now!
