Batch and Logan are here to discuss the biggest movie of 2019 (sorry Rise of Skywalker)….but before they get to that, they talk all about Shazam! They detail the history, the Geoff Johns run, and of course, the new movie. And still before they get to fifing all overthat yuge flick, they talk about some comics. And how much Batch loves Doom Patrol. And then the boys congratulate past guest of the show Chip Zdarksy on his Will Eisner nomination. And then Batch lays into Tom King for damn good reasons. Oh and they do some Google Voice (708-232-3182). And then….ENDGAME.
Take caution, there are plenty of spoilers within. So don’t go saying you weren’t warned, you fucking cocksucker.
The biggest movie of 2019, Avengers Endgame, has dropped, so Jack, Kupka and Bill are here to dish on all the details, their thoughts and reactions to it. Did the hype kill the movie? Were they spoiled? Was it worth the wait? Did anyone drop dong? All this and more, so download now!
***BE WARNED, THIS IS A SPOILER REVIEW FOR AVENGERS ENDGAME. LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK!***
In what might be the longest show we’ve ever recorded, Pete MC, TM, Ammon, and Law play three separate game shows (Keanu or Not Keanu, Quote Whores, and The Moreno Game), answer all the voicemail, review twenty hundred movies, and get into a sounder war every eight seconds.
0:00:00-Settle your butt down. It’s gonna be a long show.
0:01:59-Law sets the stage. Ammon’s late. PeteMC and TM are in the houssseeeeeee! -airhorn- Look at these rock stars, showing up. How’s the Sportscast doing? Blackmail. So racist. TM has a sounder ready but not really. Fucking fuck, guy. PeteMC has gifts. Of course he does. Gamecast is bullying Jim Law. So many games on the show tonight! Keanu or Not Keanu has returned! Quote Whores maybe? AND THE MORENO GAME?! Holy shitballs!!
0:16:14– GOOGLE VOICE. Ammon shows up near the end of the segment. Mini trailer round up. Justice League voting on FB group page. It’s over now. Ya fuck.
1:21:36-THE MORENO GAME.
1:45:55-TV ROUND UP. TM starts off with SMILF, which Law is also watching. He’s also sticking with The Deuce. Scientology. Vice Principals is done? TM’s additionally checking out Big Mouth (Pete’s not. Leads to a Last Man on Earth convo), Curb your Enthusiasm, and Hell’s Kitchen. Pete talks The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars and how he has a cousin on the show. He also started The Punisher (same with Law). Law and Ammon discuss Mindhunter. Ammon wrapped up Stranger Things Season 2. THIS. IS. US. WALKING DEAD.
2:50:03-QUOTE WHORES
3:11:14-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Nick Cage round up with The Humanity Bureau. Ammon has Wind River, Thor: Ragnarok, The Babysitter, and Brawl in Cell Block 99. Pete’s got Murder on the Orient Express, Bedeviled, The Wall, Logan Lucky (which TM also saw), Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond With a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (whole fucking title, for real. TM saw this as well). And then the big one-Justice League.
4:17:06-Pete sadly has to depart. The Moreno game continues on without him. Oh wait, Pete’s back? Cool! Back to the Moreno game.
4:38:27-RAPID FIRE KEANU OR NOT KEANU GAME WITH SOUNDER!!
Adam Bunch from the Bunch: Bagged and Boarded podcast joins Batch this week for some deep in the paint comic talk.
Supersons is awesome even though Damian Wayne is a dick, Thor looks like he’s going to get his hammer back in time for the new movie and what happened at the end of The Clone Conspiracy?
The latest goings on in Flash, Supergirl, Legends and Arrow are recapped, the casting news on the new X-Men universe TV show, as well as the epic teaser to Deadpool 2 that got dropped on comic fandom. And is this truly the last time we will see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and is he ever gonna put on that damn yellow spandex?
Hello all and welcome back to yet another week of Comic Binge! As the year comes to an end, I’m yet again taking a look at past articles of 2015 and trying to determine what works best and what doesn’t for the future. I think it’s about time I give you more reviews, though they may have less content. I read much more on a weekly basis, but there’s often not a ton to say other than the obvious yays and nays for every book. Granted, I try to write about books where there is plenty to say, but there just always isn’t. So now, I’m going to do a little rapid fire of everything read on my vacation this week, because this is the cleansing of my shelves before I get heavily into Star Wars canon for the release of the movie! Make sure to check back next week a day or two before the release of the movie we’ve all been waiting for, to see all kinds of reviews for new canon comics and even Kanan himself! So without further ado, here, we, go…
The newest, sixth volume of Catwoman, Keeper of the Castle, sees Selina taking over the Calabrese Crime Syndicate which is associated to her lesser known family. Extending out of other books’ events, this in turn takes Selina out of the sexy suit and into more formal attire. Now, I’m not one to objectify characters for looking their bad selves, but this book takes just about everything out of Catwoman that it should be. Sure, she’s still in Gotham, and she has her run-ins with the Batman, but it’s hardly the same thing. As Selina Kyle figures out her place at the head of the crime family she’s been thrust into, she also has to deal with the absence of her alter ego out on the streets. She discovers that someone else has taken her place as Catwoman, but she cannot divert her attention from the mafia goings-on around her. This book probably would have been a lot better if she would have come full circle back to the leather onesie a lot earlier. It also probably would have been a lot better had the art not totally sucked cat milk. I know Catwoman hasn’t been one of the prouder titles in the recent New 52 lineup, but it’s gone awfully far down hill after the awesomeness that Judd Winick started with in his first two volumes. Let’s hope that this was a one time deal for the character, and that she can return to being the cat’s meow of Gotham.
Next up this week stuck with female lead characters, and that was the Angela spin-off from Marvel. Coming off the pages from the universe of Thor, Angela may be a character that is familiar to some of you. She once was spawned on the pages of Spawn, and has seen time in other books as well. I’m a newcomer in regards to the character of Angela, so I was really anticipating learning a bit more about her in this first volume of her new series. What we get in this book however, is a story that lacks any sort of clear direction or plotting. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you at all what this book was about or supposed to be about. It certainly wasn’t a starter story or an origin story, as you’re dumped into Angela’s world with absolutely no knowledge as to what’s going on. Even after a few issues, I was having trouble putting together any semblance of a story in the pages. What I could get down with though was the art, which was pretty decent for such a confusing and unclear book. I’d hope that maybe Angela gets another shot to shine, as she is a cool and badass character. Even the appearances from the Guardians of the Galaxy could not save this book, and made you wish that Rocket Raccoon would pull a fourth wall stunt and BLAM! murder this book. I might be in the minority, but this book seemed pretty empty and pointless.
The continuation from Cyclops’ solo series finally reached the desk, and boy was it disappointing. The first volume was decent, and started by telling stories about the character that happened at a much younger age than we are familiar with. This book continues that thought, but boy does it fail at making anything interesting happen. By the title, A Pirate’s Life for Me, I was really expecting some fun swashbuckling. But what I got here was again another book where I could hardly care about what was going on on the pages. This one too, didn’t have nearly as good of art as the other books I’ve been reading. The first book in the series by Greg Rucka wasn’t anything amazing, but I was hoping for a bit more from this series. It furthers the opinion that I have of Marvel and their new Marvel NOW! titles in that a good 80-90% of them are garbage. I really wish Marvel had better books, because characters like these deserve much more than they are receiving. Don’t worry about checking this series out, or the most recent book, unless you’re a die-hard fan. But even then, you may have trouble wanting to keep your eyes open, even if you don’t struggle with laser beam vision.
Last but not least, I caught up a bit more with some of New 52’s Suicide Squad title. I’ve been a bit behind on the series because it’s been hard to get my hands on the books. I got a hold of the third and fourth volumes this week, and I have the fifth on deck for the weekend. The third volume saw a sort of Death of the Family vibe, much like the rest of the Bat titles in New 52 around this third volume period. Harley is tempted by the Joker’s return, as he comes in and shows her how much she’s changed into a goody two shoes. We see the struggle of the two unfold before us, but outside of the Joker-Harley scenario, there isn’t much to read for here. It was a decent volume, but nothing special, and the art was a little different too. Then the fourth volume saw the return of the Squad into more relevant stories, but now they’re up against Waller, who put the team together in the first place. Waller has found herself working along with the son of Gordon, who some may know as the villain of some recent Batman epics, Black Mirror being one of them. Waller and Gordon team up against the Suicide Squad, and a new member of the Squad is still a mystery to us. After a few battles and the Squad getting out of captivity, we see an awesome scene between Harley and Waller which was too cool. Waller had been picking away at their weaknesses, and so when Harley gets her hands on her it becomes a mess. Afterwards we see them tackle a monster in Vegas, followed by a Harley origin comic and a Deadshot origin comic. This had me thinking that we’re going to see some more origin and also maybe a new team and a re-branding of this team as the movie nears release. I am definitely looking forward to that, because Suicide Squad has been a decent, fun, and entertaining bad guy comic since its beginning here in the New 52. The following review numbers will be for the better, fourth volume titled Discipline and Punish.
Another week here at Comic Binge and I’ve finally been able to pry myself away from Batman: Arkham Knight long enough to get some reading in. I’ve been dying to get my hands on the first volume of the again rebooted Thor, since there has been much clamoring over the new female Thor. I personally enjoyed the Goddess of Thunder but more in the sense that she was really humorous and her character enabled a lot of humorous opportunities for our now powerless male characters. Thor is seemingly lost without the power of Mjolnir to wield, and thus resorts to challenging the new Thor as often as he can to reclaim his power. Also, there was a moment where Odin really went hard on the Thorina because he was basically telling her that the only place for her was the kitchen. Moments like this were a plenty in this book, which I suppose is to serve up the necessary power for our new girl Thor to kick ass. A lot of it was bickering back and forth between whether or not the new Goddess of Thunder was actually Thor, but I’ll hope that that is resolved and the next book could continue with a good story. I will say it makes me miss the other Marvel NOW! Thor book that was previous to this, but I think I could probably take another volume of the female Thor. This is a new title definitely worth checking out still.
Another book I’ve been waiting to get to is the latest volume of Scott Snyder’s Batman. Thinking that I was in for a treat of a new story, I was a little disappointed to find out that this volume contains all of the issues omitted from the previous volumes. This is both great and awful at the same time and I’ll explain why. Sometimes when you are reading intense and well-written story arcs such as Snyder, you want all of the excess trimmed and it was. I appreciate that these issues didn’t break up the excellence contained within all previous volumes, but it really left these stories to stand alone when they truly cannot. It was nice to have all of these in one place, but I would have liked some context or summary to provide some details to the stories we’re reading. Sure, I can piece some things together but you know that you are missing out on good things when this team is behind the Batman story. Otherwise, the book is pretty much just as great as those before it, regardless of my issues issues. When Scott Snyder is writing Batman, you have no excuse not to be reading. I’m interested to see where this Gotham is headed next, but surely Snyder has to be nearing the end of the line with this title as he has so much else to focus on outside of DC’s #1 title.
Finally, I have to share a little review for an actual book I read yesterday called Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant. And no, it has nothing to do with that one song by that chick Adele, as much as you may have been hoping so. It was recommended to me by a coworker and I wasn’t steered wrong at all. It’s a short little book clocking in at 120 pages, so it’s perfect for me and others who maybe read comics for their brevity. The story starts with a television network called Imagine (imagine Discovery, Nat. Geo.) that is filming a “documentary” about the hunt for mermaids. Calling to the Discovery Channel Shark Week specials of recent years that feature some larger than life stories to exaggerate the awesomeness that is sharks, Rolling in the Deep does everything to make you question the events unfolding on the page. It reads as a retelling of the tragic story of the SS Atargatis and its crew that were lost at sea during their escapades near the Mariana Trench. The book is sort of like a SyFy flick, combined with a fake documentary Blair Witch style, and a little bit reality TV. I wasn’t expecting so much greatness packed into this little book, but it fires on all cylinders and provides all of the great staples for a good horror story. There are faces flying, mysteries abound, and plenty of laughs and scares to make you want to go Rolling in the Deep again. This is a must-read book if you like creature horror or a good suspense/sci-fi story.
Welcome to a special edition Binge Cast in which the great Garrett Collins enlightens us all on what to expect from AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. This is a spoiler free review as Law, Kupka, and Moreno grill Garrett as much as possible without giving anything away. Best character? Worst character? Surprises? Cameos? Better or worse than the first? All this shit and more is answered on the show. What are you waiting for, download that shizz.
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Linda Cardellini, Mark Ruffalo, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hayley Atwell, Andy Serkis, Cobie Smulders, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, James Spader, Jeremy Renner, and Idris Elba.
Make no mistake about it. For the second time in a row, writer/director Joss Whedon had a mighty big weight on his shoulders. Leading up to the release of 2012’s The Avengers, there was a lot of talk about how many balls Whedon was going to have to juggle in order to make it a successful round-up of characters Marvel spent a lot of time and money establishing the origins of since 2008. Even given these origins, Whedon had to plausibly enter Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Captain America into a life or death situation involving the fate of the world. Personally, while The Avengers was an all around fun first time cinematic viewing experience, I have to say that I do not think it holds up on repeated viewings. There was no filter to be found for how many snarky lines were sprouted, and moderation was completely absent. Going into The Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was hard to not know of the pressure Whedon had to top himself from the original film’s overly positive fan and critical reaction. Despite my reservations about the first film’s faults, I found myself wondering if there was any way he could possibly make this film better than its predecessor. Let’s be honest. There were quite a few things to improve. The movie’s final enemies were boring, and the overly jokey dialogue gave it less and less replay value. But the brilliant juggling act of combining slam-bang action with the Avengers forming -or Assembling, if you will- Whedon pulled off was never in question. So the main doubt I had with Age of Ultron was, with the job of assembling The Avengers for the first time behind him, did Whedon bring a continuation story worthy of all these characters coming back while making it seem organic and not outlined with the color of money? In other words, did he make his Empire Strikes Back?
In a word, hell yes. With The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon has accomplished the impossible. He has made a movie that is not only one of the most entertaining summer films to come around in quite sometime, he has also injected some surprisingly philosophical themes into what could have once again been the romp he got away with last time. This time, Whedon decided to instead play with the God complex that comes with being a superhero. The way the story and main conflicts develop revolves around Tony Stark. With S.H.I.E.L.D. gone, Stark (Downey Jr) decides to take matters into his own hands and make things easier on his fellow heroes by developing an artificial intelligence run police force, headed by Ultron (Spader). Ultimately, Ultron sees all mankind as the real betrayers of humanity and takes it upon himself to quench the world with their extinction. What follows are many doubts among the Avengers about whether they can take both the physical and mental hits Ultron has to dish out, as well as people who started off on Ultron’s side changing allegiances. In all honesty, that is all the plot you need, as the way its points are layed out and followed through in Whedon’s taut script does more than enough to let you know what is going on in each character’s head.
Speaking of which, that would lead to my favorite new character of the series. From Buffy Summers to his last incarnation of Black Widow, Whedon has a history of writing strong women. He once again does not disappoint with Avengers: Age of Ultron, as not only does he again push the Black Widow character over boundaries we have not seen her jump yet, he also introduces Scarlet Witch. Played with a glint in her eye by the lovely Olsen (Godzilla), Scarlet Witch is a character who, like all characters in this series, could come off as silly if written or played wrong. But her abilities to go into someone’s head without them knowing while going through their exact experiences are brilliantly integrated into the film’s plot. It also helps that Olsen plays up her emotions so that you feel her pain.
Another highlight for me was Hemsworth, who despite being given sub-par scripts in both Thor movies (as well as playing carnival hammer games at state fairs to promote them) has never deterred his charisma. He once again brings his welcome swagger to the proceedings, and Evans & Downey of course chew up each piece of scenery they own. Along with giving Black Widow a bigger part, Whedon saw fit to make Hawkeye a larger piece of the puzzle this time as well. A bigger role and better lines did nothing but endear me to an otherwise boring Renner. The writing of his character makes him more than eminently watchable.
In addition to Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, another surprise was this film’s villain and title character. When I am told by people how entertained they were by The Avengers, they always talk about the action and dialogue. Yet they never talk about the film’s enemies. Hiddleston’s Loki (who once again shows his face here) was written well. But the ‘troops’ Whedon stuck him with made the ending of the film feel weak to me. Yet like most of the 2012 film’s faults, Whedon has fixed the problem. Spader, who has always been one of the most magnetic supporting actors of his generation (something tells me Downey, who acted with Spader in 1987’s Less Than Zero, had a say in this bit of casting) is everything a good villain should be. He is imposing, he is monstrous, and he is emotionally conflicted. Spader -who also did the character’s mo-cap- emotionally digs deep into Ultron’s subconscious, and Whedon’s talent at displaying angst is on full display when he shows Ultron wrestling with his emotions and what he has to do.
Whedon has no doubt gone deeper this go around. Though the movie is not as dark as the trailers would have you believe. While his previous Avengers film was not nearly as clever and funny as it thought it was, Whedon has done what I was hoping for Age of Ultron, which is use moderation. The humor in Age of Ultron comes off as hard hooks as opposed to soft jabs. This time, instead of groaning at someone playing Gallaga, I found myself laughing with the rest of the gang at Hawkeye’s purpose on the Avengers team.
All roads lead to this being Whedon’s last crack as director of an Avengers film. Let me say, if this is his curtain call from the director’s chair of a Marvel film, then he picked a hell of a way to go out. Sure, his hands were tied with Quicksilver (Taylor-Johnson) and what the rights to use him meant to both parties involved. But he did what every good director does, which is do what he could using the tools he had. Yes, his plot has roots in Terminator-esque fears of messing with technology. But I didn’t care. At its core, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a movie whose soul it does not wear on its sleeve. It is an action packed, rib cage rattling romp through many different emotions. After what he pulled off last time, I did not expect Whedon to do more of the same. But I also sure could not foresee him spinning the web of an emotionally layered action film that he did. And no, that is NOT a hint to the film’s final scene.
The Lowdown: There’s this cabin, in the woods, and a bunch of teenagers go to it. Also a unicorn may or may not impale a guy.
The Breakdown (Gigantic, Mamma Jamma Spoilers! Seriously.): Well, leave it to the man who successfully directed and wrote The Avengers to completely dismantle the horror genre. Originally shelved for over a year due to studios not understanding how to market it, The Cabin in the Woods was just the kick in the pants modern horror needed. Whedon walks a tightrope between the scares and the camp, delivering what might be the most unique horror-comedy of the past decade. By sending up films like The Wicker Man, The Evil Dead and Romero’s zombie films, TCITW goes places other horror flicks had not been able to before. Sure, the gore is light and the actual horror is always played for laughs, but the flick basically holds up a mirror to every other film in the genre and says “show me what you got”.
Cabin brilliantly sets up your classic slasher/horror scenario from square one. You’re introduced to the main characters, as they travel to the aforementioned shack, consisting of a stoner, a jock, a medical student, a HUGE whore and a seemingly naive girl. All of the characters play into their given stereotype, at first, making the first act all of what you have seen before, save for one subplot involving Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. As a couple of clerical workers/technicians in a lab somewhere, Jenkins and Whitford add a ton of comic relief and, more importantly, the structure for which the rest of the film uses to turn the tables on itself and become something wholly different than the trailers might have led you to believe.
WARNING: At this point it is impossible for me to not spoil the FUCK out of this movie, so proceed at your own risk!
Any horror fan worth his/her salt could appreciate where the film goes from here. Without missing a beat, the plot opens up and we learn the “technicians” are controlling the goings on at the cabin, having an effect on our five main characters and even having some sort of power over the zombies attacking them. Soon after, our main characters start getting offed, leading to the survivors discovering they are being manipulated by something they can’t quite understand. From here on out it’s batshit insanity. Through an ingenious plot device, we get an absolute slaughter from every horror movie monster you could think of, of course altered slightly as to not violate copyright. Chances are if you’re afraid of anything, it probably shows up in the third act to terrorize the survivors. The best way I could describe all the mayhem is that it feels like a funhouse ride that you never want to end. We even get a solid cameo from Sigourney Weaver to help wrap the plot up.
The Comedown: Now as far as endings go, TCITW does not stick the landing. The rest of the film, admittedly, is pretty wonderful, packed with references to every piece of classic horror you can think of. It is this admiration for the genre that bails out the movies’ overall cop-out of an ending, ensuring that when it happens you really do not mind. With a strong cast, even stronger writing, self referential comedy and some solid horror sequences, The Cabin in the Woods is a fantastic horror-comedy to ease you into October, combining the terror of the holiday along with the arguably-more-important fun that it can be.