2011 Gift Guides: Gifts for Comic Book Lovers.

 Does your loved one, love comics more than anything else? Here's the ultimate list of must have graphic novels. Whether the person has read or even currently owns a copy of these books or not, a new copy is always appreciated as the pages will be less worn. Every one of these can be read over and over to non-stop enjoyment. Stop in to any local comic book store to pick up copies of these books.

15. Y: The Last Man. This series can be had in either 10 softcover or five hardbound editions. It tells the story of the last man on planet Earth. Not only is he the last man, but barring his pet monkey, he is the last surviving mammal on the planet. Pick this series up to discover why.

14. Sandman. From another of the masters of the medium, this time it's Neil Gaiman. The series ran for 75 issues, but has since been reprinted in 4 ultimate hardcover editions. The story is of the personification of dreams. The main character is Dream, though he goes through many names throughout the series. Other aspects of fate are also featured in the series.

13. Justice League of America: Tower Of Babel. Several members of the Justice League have been attacked with bizarre, but dangerously effective, methods. From a blind Green Lantern who can't use his imagination to make constructs to now water-fearing Aquaman, the race is on to find out who's responsible and what's their endgame. Soon to be a new DC Animated straight-to-DVD film, it stands as one of the best written arcs of the Justice League.

12. Wolverine. Written by Chris Clairemont and penciled by Frank Miller, this four issue arc, that has been reprinted in graphic novel form several times took the character of Wolverine from a flat two dimensional raging character, to one with depth, feeling and back story.

11. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. Dwight McCarthy thought she was out of his life forever. But he was wrong... women like Ava Lord never really leave you. And when she crosses his path again, he's going to wish he never met her... Second in the sensational Sin City series, this is said to be the main story to be adapted for the sequel to the 2005 Sin City adaptation. A noir story like no other, and one of the best Frank Miller works.

10. V For Vendetta. Alan Moore, who wrote this, is a true visionary. He's helped to define what graphic novels are, and what they can strive to be. V for Vendetta tells the story of V, as he revolts against the British Parliament in a myopic future.

9. Black Summer. Originally an eight issue arc, now you can get all of the individual issues in graphic novel form from one of the masters himself, Warren Ellis. The story is about masked heroes and villains dealing with political strife in the 1980's.

8. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. Picking up about a year and a half after the events of the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the titular heroine faces new challenges, new roles and a new villain as she struggles to cope with all the changes she's been through. Old enemies rise again but can they defeat an army of Slayers and their network? The official continuation of the show and just as fantastic as the show that started it all, Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight is a great revival. Catch up with Buffy and the new Scoobies, starting with the first arc, The Long Way Home.

7. Civil War. After a horrible incident involving a staggering amount of fatalities, the superhero community becomes divided when a new bill is proposed, stating that all costumed crimefighters must register their identities with the government and work in tandem with them. Iron Man leads the side willing to work with the government, Captain America leads those wishing to remain unmasked. A landmark event in Marvel history, one with ramifications lasting years after its conclusion.

6. Scott Pilgrim. falling hard for aloof newcomer Ramona Flowers, Scott Pilgrim learns if he is to win her heart completely, he must defeat her seven evil ex-lovers in combat. A six part series, this is a hilarious and invigorating ride which the movie, while compressed, was extremely faithful to. Volume 1 is entitled Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.

5. The Walking Dead. Winner of the 2010 Eisner Award for best continuing series, this follows a group of survivors as they try to make their way in the world following a zombie apocalypse.

4. Runaways. Six kids discover their parents are a criminal cabal known as The Pride and that each of them have powers or weapons at their disposal. Gathering what they can, the kids (Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gert and Molly, as well as their newly discovered genetically engineered dinosaur) leave their homes and try to find a place to stay as they fight their parents. Currently on hiatus, now would be the opportune time to start reading this excellent series, starting with Volume 1: Pride And Joy.

3. The Dark Knight Returns. Bruce Wayne has been retired for 10 years as Batman. However, crime has gotten even more out of hand and he can stand it no more. His body may have aged, but his mind is as sharp as ever as the Caped Crusader bursts back on the scene, leaving many to question if the Dark Knight's return is a gift from the gods, or the cataclysm Gotham has been heading towards. A pivotal read in the long and wonderful history of the masked man hunter of Gotham

2. Watchmen. Set in an alternate 1980's, where Richard Nixon is still president, and super heroes have been deemed illegal, this book starts with the death of the Comedian, and ends with a massive attack on New York City, but do the heroes come out of retirement in time to save the city? Pick up the book to find out. This is the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's 100 all-time greatest novels list.

1. DC Comics: The New 52. A hardcover book that won't be released until Dec. 13, not only is it new, but it's timely. This book will compile all 52 number one issues of the newly relaunched titles in the DC comics universe.

Bonus Buy: JLA/Avengers. One of the most anticipated crossovers in comic book history the flagship superhero team from each of the industries top publishers, end up working together to stop an evil so great it threatens both universes.

Batman Gotham Knight

Disclaimer: This was written two days after the DVD was released in 2008, just now being cross posted here on my blog.

Okay, so i just watched, and re-watched the new Gotham Knight animated 

movie / collection and here are my thoughts on the shorts. 

1.Have I got a story for you So the premise of this short is a group of 

kids get together and tell stories of what they think "the Batman" is. 

Does this plot sound familiar? It should, it was the very same plot 

from an episode of the animated series, except without the frank miller 

shout out. Because of this, I already felt like I've seen it, which made 

it kinda boring. The animation in this short is a little oddball. The 

backgrounds are amazing and realistic while the characters themselves 

look cartoon-y and sometimes unfinished. That's a style they where going 

for I'm sure, but it just felt odd to me. Overall, this definitely was 

not one of the best shorts, but also not the worse. 

2. crossfire The story on this short focuses on two of Gorden's 

detectives, one of them very unhappy with a vigilante doing crime 

fighting in Gotham (batman). There really isn't much to the plot except 

for detective Alan complaining about batman pretty much the entire 

time. At the end of the short, Alan and his partner get in between a 

crime war and batman comes and saves their lives. That's it. It wasn't 

anything special, but worth watching for the animation. So, the 

animation in this short is pretty good, and the best part is the last 

minute when batman shows up. This is the very best animation of batman 

in the entire collection, sadly, hes only around for over a minute. 

such a waste, awesome while it lasts though. Because of the end, I felt 

this was one of the better shorts. 

3. Field test Wow, This was probably one of the worst representations 

of batman since the campy old TV show. Congratulations to the animators 

on this one, I've never wanted to gouge my eyes out so badly before in 

my life. The story revolves around a new gadget luscious fox invents to 

repel bullets away from batman. Batman tries it out, bullets repel, and 

some guy almost dies from one of the repelled bullets. The story isn't 

that bad, nothing major, but its there. Its the animation that makes 

this short so god damn terrible. You wont know that you're looking at 

bruce wayne until he speaks. Why? because Bruce Wayne looks like a 

skinny, shaggy haired, Japanese teenager I kid you not. Watching this 

generic anime character that anyone at a local high school could draw 

use bruce waynes voice disgusted me. I constantly begged for him to 

dress up as batman so I could stop watching the monstrosity. 

Unfortunately, the animation of batman was even worse. Pretty much 

envision Femto from Berserk with pointy ears and you have this shorts 

batman. Disgusting. This was easily the worst in all of the shorts and 

I wish it never made it past a storyboard. 

4. In darkness dwells This short was about batman hunting down a new 

urban myth cannibal. The cannibals nickname is "Killer Kroc". Yeah, any 

batman fan knows this guy. The story doesn't get too involved in this 

one, but I did enjoy it. The animation had great realistic backgrounds, 

but the character animation was a little inconsistent at times. 

Sometimes the characters look really good and grity, other shots show 

them at really awkward angles and they just come of as deformed. It 

definitely doesn't ruin this short, but it does catch your attention 

more than it should. Overall, i liked this one though. 

5. Working through pain This short arguably might have the best story 

of the bunch, mostly because its the only one that really shows some 

character development in Bruce Wayne. The story focuses on how Bruce 

Wayne was trained to ignore physical pain. I really like the story of 

this one, and the ending is actually kind of sad. The animation, not as 

good. As batman, he looks pretty decent. You definitely know its 

batman, unlike in "Field Test". Its the Bruce Wayne animation that's the 

weak point of this short. While not half as bad as "Field Test", his 

character is breaching on generic anime guy. He doesn't look like Bruce 

Wayne, but he doesn't look like a skinny Asian kid either. The story is 

what really sells this one, and its definitely worth watching. 

6. Deadshot If only one short makes you buy this collection, this will 

be it. This was by far the best short of them all. The story is pretty 

simple. A very talented sniper is contracted to take out Gotham s 

finest, and eventually batman himself. Its all about villain vs batman 

here, and its really good. Out of all the shorts, this was the only one 

that actually felt like it could be a storyline in the animated series 

(besides "Have I got a story for you" which WAS an actual storyline in 

TaS). This was the only short in both story and animation that really 

made me feel i was watching a batman episode. I loved this, and watched 

it several times over. This is not one to skip batfolks, this is 

batman. 

So overall, Id say there was two good ones ( Working through pain and 

Deadshot), two okay ones (Crossfire and In darkness dwells), one dud 

(have i got a story for you), and one abomination (Field test).

Batman: Year One REVIEWED!

    Let's start with the biggest extra feature on the disc, the DC Showcase: Catwoman short, the short films included on these discs are just as good if not better than some of the features. In this case, geek goddess Eliza Dushku voices Catwoman.

In just the second scene of the short here, the viewer quickly learns that while an animated film, it's definitely not for kids, as the majority of the action in the first half of the short is set in a strip club. While never showing full on nudity, it does show the dancer's top get thrown at the main antagonist, Rough Cut from across the room. The dancer is then shown with her long golden hair covering her breasts the rest of the scene she is in.

   The action quickly shifts to a car chase and then a warehouse on the Gotham docks where we find out that Rough Cut is smuggling more than just diamonds this time around.

This short is basically a carryover from the Year One movie, though having watched the short first I didn't necessarily know that at the onset, though I have read the comic so I did know it at the same time, hopefully that's not confusing to the readers out there in internet land.

   The voice cast is excellent, though there isn't much there outside of Dushku, who played the character in the feature length version as well as in this short.

Moving on to the feature film. Batman: Year One, it was an excellent comic, one of the few I've read in recent years for those that have followed former posts you'll know what I am referring to.

   The film starts off with a voice over from Bruce Wayne, and we quickly learn that the voice actor chosen here, is definitely no Kevin Conroy, the man did such a bad job I'm not even gonna bother typing out his name here, he simply sounds like he is trying to mimic Conroy, though he's not very good at even that. Jim Gordon's voice actor, Bryan Cranston, did an excellent job. Overall this is probably the worst overall voice cast in the DCU line so far. Though that's partially because the rest of the films have all had excellent casts.

Overall this film suffers from being too loyal to the source material. Way to many voice overs and not enough action for a movie of this sort. This type of story telling just doesn't work in this medium. It worked super well for the comic, but it just leaves too much to be desired in the film version.

   The story recounts the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman and Jim Gordon's with the Gotham City Police Department. Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City from training abroad in martial arts, man hunting, and science for the past 12 years, and James Gordon moves to Gotham with his wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corruption and violence of Gotham City, with Gordon witnessing his partner Detective Flass assaulting a teen for fun.

   On a surveillance mission to the seedy East End, a disguised Bruce is propositioned by teenaged prostitute Holly Robinson. He is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with her violent pimp and is attacked by several prostitutes, including dominatrix Selina Kyle. Two police officers shoot and take him in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Bruce breaks his handcuffs and causes a crash, dragging the police to a safe distance before fleeing. He reaches Wayne Manor barely alive and sits before his father’s bust, requesting guidance in his war on crime. A bat crashes through a window and settles on the bust, giving him the inspiration to become a bat.

   There’s still novelty in seeing different sides to these beloved characters: Jim Gordon beating up corrupt police officers and leaving them naked in the road, Batman really struggling to fight his foes, often times losing the brawl and getting shot/beat up. Neither man is perfect or “superhero”-like – and it’s the introduction of such moral ambiguities – Batman’s incompetence, Gordon’s rashness and disloyalty – that makes the film stand out, much to the same effect as its comic counterpart.

   The true draw to this film is that it humanizes the Bat, we see him not as the nearly infallible idea that so many have come to know and fear, but as a man that is still very much learning his trade, that's what makes this story good regardless of the medium it is being told in.

The film fits somewhere in the upper third or so of the 16 or 17 (I've lost count, sorry...) films already released in the DCU line.

These special features are included on the Blu-Ray disc, which is what I am reviewing from.

•Sneak Peek at Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie

DC Showcase Animated Original Short – “Catwoman”: This all-new entry to the growing canon of DC Universe animated shorts features the first first solo tale centered around Catwoman. The felonious feline’s adventure takes her through the seedy streets of Gotham City.

•Featurette –”Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots”: The Dark Knight Returns provided the denouement of Batman’s life. Frank Miller’s next seminal work would provide his near-mythic origin in Batman: Year One. This documentary uncovers the contemporary genius of Miller and the audience that was poised to appreciate the depths of his work.
•Featurette –”Conversations with DC Comics”: The Batman creative team at DC Entertainment discusses the personal influence of Batman: Year One on their careers. Batman producer Michael Uslan leads the chat amongst well-known writers, editors and artists of the Batman lore, focusing their dialogue on the darker, realistic interpretation of Batman’s origins by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
• Audio Commentary with Alan Burnett, Sam Liu, Mike Carlin and Andrea Romano
• Batman: Year One, Chapter 1 Digital Comic Book
• Two bonus episodes from Batman: The Animated Series hand-picked by Bruce Timm
• Digital copy on disc of the feature film compatible with iTunes and Windows

   Next up for the DC animated film line, Justice League: Doom, I can't wait!

The Emerald Knight Goes Blu (Ray)

    As if being a box office disappointment and a critical flop weren't bad enough -- it's strange labeling a $200 million worldwide take a flop or a disappointment, and yet it was both -- Green Lantern left film fans and comic fans cold. And, for once, a comicbook adaptation alienated moviegoers of all stripes for the same reasons, regardless of how familiar they were with DC Comics' space-faring saga. Where to begin? 
   Director Martin Campbell's interstellar superhero actioner is too slow, too uneventful, too melodramatic, too anticlimactic, and offers too little too late. More? Its casting is riddled with odd choices and poor picks, its superpower showcases and superpowered showdowns are dull and CG-driven, its attachment to Earth infuriating, its performances clunky and inconsistent, its tone too disjointed, its hero too shallow, its fourth tier human villains too cheesy, its planet-chomping alien menace too cartoonish, and its true Big Bad relegated to the bench until an end-credits sequence calls him in for a sequel that might not ever come to fruition. Long story short...
   Green Lantern has high aspirations but never quite gets off the ground. I expected a lot of CG, I mean how else could it have been done, but this is just bad.  Initially I enjoyed it when I saw it on the big screen, but a few months later and a review on DVD really soured my views on this one.
   Video Quality
   Warner's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer doesn't exactly swoop in to save the day. Contrast is rather oppressive and black levels are heavy, unforgiving and, every now and then, abusive, stamping out shadow detail with abandon. It's as if someone cranked up the "in blackest night" dial but forgot to flip the "in brightest day" switch. (On a positive note, the more brutal blacks cover up some of the seams that haunt the film's CG elements, chief among them Hal's suit.) Even when the sun rises, the image lacks a bit of the brightness, crispness and clarity that should rise with it. When the sun sets, matters get infinitely worse. Crush is an issue, as is middling delineation and some muddled fine textures. Videophiles won't be easily satisfied and even those who are will probably be those who mistake the overzealous shadows that press in as thematic when they are, at least in part, indicative of something more troubling: the possibility of an over-tweaked encode. Granted, much of the deteriorating detail traces back to the source. I noticed the presence of noise reduction while watching the film in the theater and most, if not all, of the (reasonably) minor DNR that's visible here comes courtesy of Campbell and company, not Warner. Still, an eyesore is an eyesore. Closeups of Ryan Reynold's face (the refined shots at 41:09, 1:14:47 and 1:44:30 being a few of the exceptions) shouldn't look as flat, indistinct or muddy as they sometimes do.
   Which brings us to the next problem. While superpowered greens and yellows light up the screen with welcome vibrancy, Dion Beebe's palette -- or perhaps Warner's approximation of it -- looks as if it belongs in a film featuring the Dark Knight, not the Emerald Knight. While typically attractive, fleshtones don't always boast natural hues, many a primary sinks into the abyss, and shadows occasionally descend without mercy, eclipsing both the practical sets and CG environments. (Hal's confrontations with Parallax are particularly dreary and dubious. Look no further than the murky mess that is their battle at the 1:42:00 to 1:44:00 mark. Even explosions and spewing fire struggle to push back the prevailing darkness.) Thankfully, there are saving graces. Significant artifacting, banding, aliasing and ringing are nowhere to be found, detail isn't always consumed by darkness, and a variety of scenes, though still relatively dark, look quite good. Some soupy noise tries to disguise itself as filmic grain and fails, but it isn't a major distraction. All things considered, Green Lantern offers a passable, now-and-again impressive presentation, but it also stands as one of the more underwhelming superhero-adventure transfers to come along in some time. I already knew I didn't enjoy the film itself, but I thought the resulting Blu-ray release would, at the very least, blow me away. Instead, it just sort of limps along. Green Lantern was a bit brighter, a bit more colorful and, if memory serves me, a bit more detailed in theaters, but four months is a long time when it comes to memories, so take that with a grain of salt. Even so, I would recommend adjusting your expectations. The video presentation isn't as brave, brilliant or bold as you might assume. I honestly had a tough time deciding between a 3.0 and a 3.5. Fair warning: you may feel it holds steady at a 3.0 or, if you're particularly sensitive to specific issues, descends into 2.5 territory. 
   AUDIO QUALITY
   Ah, this is more like it. While Green Lantern's visuals are trapped in a maddening free fall, Warner's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track kicks on the afterburner and roars overhead. Dialogue is clean, well-grounded and intelligible throughout (minus a few lines dwarfed by mid-battle chaos) and sound effects, be they down-to-Earth or powered-by-will, remain crystal clear from start to finish. Explosions, minigun fire, Kilowog punches, jet engines, toppling buildings and burning stars take full advantage of the LFE channel, and dynamics lend power and presence to an already engrossing soundscape. The rear speakers are responsible for plenty of sonic flash and flair as well. Alien warriors rocket past, energy blasts streak across space, Parallax billows and fills the soundfield, and every intergalactic hotspot and Earthbound locale is nice and immersive. (Even though Lantern's distant planets seem to be slightly more enveloping than our own. I suppose Campbell has more to play with when he's off-world, brief as those opportunities may be.) If the film's transfer came to life with the same vividness and tenacity as Warner's mix, this would be an entirely different review.


parts of this review are taken from bluray.com.

My comic book Confession.

   Today, I'll admit to you all a secret that I've kept from the nerd community for a long time. I'm a wannabe, a know-nothing, a fake, fraud, and whatever other insult that you want to include.  What it boils down to is this.  I claim to be a well rounded geek (feel free to insert random fat jokes if you must.) yet I've barely read any comic books in my life before the last year.
   Growing up comic books were not accessible to me, there were no local comic shops in small town rural Temperance, Michigan. I know I claim Monroe, that is where I was born, and lived until about age 7, but after that it was all Temperance baby. But I digress, unlike past generations of nerds, I had many options of where to spread my geek to. I got to 'watch' my comics as there were more animated shows based on comic characters than ever before, many of the stories were ripped right out of the comics. Comics were expensive, and I grew up sans the silver spoon needed to properly feed my nerdy obsession.
   Video games were huge in my generation as well, sure there was the Atari before us, but most advancements in home gaming game happened during my generation as well, that meant another thing to split my time with.
   Then came the internet, and soon after wikipedia. I know that it's not a good source for a journalist or a research paper, but it's great for a nerd. Mostly it's edited by the more nerdly among us, and we self moderate our selves and and massively fact check each other. The great thing about wikipedia is that it allowed me to catch up on years of history in a few hours, and very cheaply.
   Unfortunately that meant I still didn't dive into comics as much as I wanted to, and it allowed me to sound knowledgeable among the community I so wanted to be a part of, simply because I knew the story lines, and if something were mentioned that I didn't know, I'd simply claim to not remember, or that I must have missed that issue.
   Pre-2010 I had probably read less than 20 comic books in my life, and maybe 5 or 6 trade paper backs. A lot of that has changed in recent years, as I've figured out I can get TPB's from the library, and that the library has deals where I can get books from just about anywhere. I'm loving it.  I currently have 33 trade's checked out, and I rip through them in about an hour each.
   I'm catching up mostly on Batman and the Flash right now, but I will soon move on to catching up on more stuff. Please leave me a comment and let me know your suggestions of what I should check out. And please don't chastize me to much, for being 'in the closet' for so long with my secret. I'm out now, and looking for help to fix the whole in my geek playbook.