Sentinel #1 Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

The problem with comics today is you can't really find a fun comic. It's always about being dark, realistic, violent and over sexualized. Just look at the New 52. Sure there are all ages comics, but with them you get the stigma of "it's bad because it's for kids." So when a fun comic like Blue Beetle and the comic I'm looking at today is released it sell's poorly and get's canceled. This is a shame since they can be really good but no one cares. I think it's about time this changed so that's why I'm going to look at Sentinel #1.

The story of Sentinel is about Juston Seyfert. An average high school outcast, who lives with his Dad and Brother in Wisconsin. His dad run's a Junkyard that they live next to. They don't really have a lot of money so he has to find his own way to entertain himself. Which mostly consists of him making things out of junk parts such as battle robots. One day he finds a control chip amongst the junk. The next day while eating lunch in a class room he meet's a girl named Jesse who look's like she's wearing a Moogle hat. That's kinda random.

Later that day while driving around with his friend in the forest they find a crater in the middle of nowhere, they wonder what caused it, and we see a giant robotic hand behind a tree. Even later, him and his brother are about fight with there robots when Juston's robot drives away by itself after he put the Control Chip in it. The comic ends with the Control Chip being revealed to belong to a Sentinel from the X-Men comics, who is using Juston's robot to rebuild itself.

This comic is actually pretty good. It has good art, and I like the characters. However it hasn't hit it's stride yet, and it will get better as it goes. This is a much better read in the Trade or if you have all the issues because it does feel really short. Overall it's not bad, but it hasn't become great just yet. I definitely recommend the series. 

Rating: 3/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Cave

"The Dark Knight Rises" First Thoughts

So I was able to see The Dark Knight Rises early. I actually thought it was pretty good. I can see where some of the Bad Reviews are coming from but I still really enjoyed it. It wasn't as good as Batman Begins or The Dark Knight but it's still a good movie. First off Christian Bale still plays a good Batman, even though he still does the voice.

Tom Hardy does a great job as Bane, it's the closest we've ever gotten to the Bane from the comics. I don't understand why all these people have such a hard time understanding what he's saying. I could understand him, but that might be because I didn't see it in IMAX. Also the reason I said closest to the comic is that a certain plot twist at the end kind of diminishes his character to the point he nearly becomes the Bane from Batman and Robin.

Anne Hathaway does a good job as Selina Kyle, and Cillian Murphy does a good job as Scarecrow but once again he doesn't get much screen time and he doesn't even appear as Scarecrow. Who I was really surprised by was John Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I actually liked a lot. He's essentially Tim Drake with a bit of Terry McGinnis thrown in. I was also surprised how many elements were taken from Knightfall, which was a good thing. I'm not sure what else to say but go see it, and form your own opinions.

Rating: 4/5

Batman Week Ends: "Return to the Batcave" First Thoughts

Batman Week comes to a close. The Dark Knight Rises is out, and originally I was planning to go see it today but due to some scheduling issues I'm not going to be able to see in until Tuesday. However I was able to find a substitute. A movie I've been looking for, for about a year or two. That movie is is the 60's Batman show reunion entitled "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt."

Since I'm a big fan of the 60's show and Silver Age comics, I really wanted to see this. It was great. It pay's tribute to the show, and it looks behind the scenes at what working on the show was like in a very fun way. It's very self aware, and just an overall fun movie. 

Seeing all these actors again are great, especially Frank Gorshin and Julie Newmar. The actors that played the younger versions of the actors did a really good job especially the ones who played Adam and Burt. Overall this was a really enjoyable movie, and I recommend it to any fan of the 60's Batman TV Show or I would even say go see it if your a big Batman fan.

Rating: 4/5

Batman Week: Batman #300 Review

---SPOILER WARNING--- 

So the Dark Knight Rises comes out today. It was hard to find a comic that was appropriate to review today, but I decided to review a kind of a what if story. This takes place in the future and it is entitled The Last Batman Story. So let's check this out.

This comic is about Batman and Robin teaming up one last time in order to stop a secret organization that goes by Spectrum. The Spectrum has a problem with Wayne Industry's and has been causing problems. Robin sends a police girl named Annie Morgan in to investigate, but she was injured causing Robin to take this personally.They find The Spectrum's hideout, and interrupt a meeting. They beat some of the henchmen, and make there way to the leaders.

It turn's out two people are in control of the Group, Infrared and Ultraviolet. Infrared is distracted by Batman which set's off a chain reaction that causes there protective rings to explode. The comic ends with Bruce revealing he's going to retire from being Batman, and run for Governor. He also plan's to ask the woman he loves to marry him. Dick asks when he'll know for sure, and Bruce tells him he'll have the answers tomorrow.

This comic isn't that bad, but it does have some flaws. The story just doesn't seem epic enough to earn the title The Last Batman Story. The story telling is also very Silver-Age, which isn't a bad thing it just subtracts from some of the Drama of the comic. The villains aren't too interesting, and the Spectrum seems more suited to be a Green Lantern villain then a Batman one. However the art is great and there is some good character stuff between Bruce and Dick. Overall it was enjoyable, and I recommend it. But I'm sure this isn't the last Batman Story, he always has a habit of Returning.

Rating: 3/5

Batman Week: Over the Edge Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

So this week I reviewed a Batman novel and a Batman movie, so now before I do my comic review I'm going to review an episode of Batman the Animated Series or The New Batman Adventures as it is known in this part of the shows history. So why did I pick this episode? Well it's one of my favorites and it does have Bane in it.

While trying to take down Scarecrow, Batgirl is kill after being thrown off of a building. She lands on Commissioner Gordon's car, and he takes of her mask revealing her to be his daughter Barbra. The Commissioner blames Batman, and starts to go after him. He finds out Batman's identity by looking at Barbra's computer. The police storm Wayne Manor, and Batman barely makes it out. Both Nightwing and Alfred are arrested, and Batman tells Robin to turn himself in.

The Commissioner is under investigation since his daughter was Batgirl and his connection to Batman over the years. Due to this he is force to step down as Commissioner, and as such he starts to resort to very extreme measures. He uses his Daughters funeral as bait, and hires Bane to defeat Batman. Bane win's but when the Commissioner says he want's to take Batman to jail Bane turn's on him and throws him off the building they are on.

The Commissioner manages to hold on to a ledge, while Batman subdues Bane. Batman tries to save the Commissioner but Bane uses what strength he has left to throw the Bat-signal at the both of them, causing them both to fall. It is then revealed that this was all Barbra having a dream sequence induced by the Scarecrows Fear Gas. Barbra then goes to tell her Dad that she's Batgirl, but before she can him he tells her that she is capable of making her own decisions implying that he already knew that she was Batgirl.

This episode is great, this is probably my second favorite episode in the whole series after Heart of Ice. The way it starts is a bit confusing, but it catches the viewer up pretty quickly. The first time watching this it might not be hard to figure out the twist ending but I still think it's effective. Some of the characters act wildly out of character but that might be due to the fact it's a dream sequence. Overall I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes Batman.

Rating: 4/5

Batman Week: Batman (1989) Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

As you may know The Dark Knight Rises is coming out in two days. To get myself in the right mind set I've been watching some of older movies as well as the other two Christopher Nolan movies. While watching them I decided to review one of them. I skipped over the obvious choices, being "Batman Returns" and "Batman and Robin." I eventually decided to review the very first movie in the Burton/Schumacher Batman series.

This is the one most people really like. I decided to do this because this is wildly regarded as one of if not the best Batman movie, and I have a very different opinion then most people. This is probably due to the fact I don't have that big of a nostalgic connection to this movie. The two Batman movies I watched the most were Batman Returns and Batman Forever. As such I can review this with a more critical mind. So let's begin.

The story of this movie isn't too deep or eventful. Most of the movie is the Joker trying to get in the spotlight instead of Batman, and trying to have sex with Vicki Vale. The Joker hates Batman because if it wasn't for him his skin wouldn't of got bleached. After some shenanigans and two scenes of the Joker dancing to the music of Prince, Batman uses the Batplane to try to stop the Joker from using his Joker venom to kill everyone. Joker destroys the plane, and it crashes outside a Cathedral. Batman chases the Joker up the Cathedral, in order to save Vicki Vale. They get to the roof, Batman and Vicki were holding on for dear life when the Joker tries to escape by helicopter. Batman prevents him from leaving by wrapping his leg to a gargoyle and the movie end with Joker falling to his death after the Gargoyle comes lose and weights him down.

So let's get the good out of the way first. The cinematography and mood is really good. Tim Burton does a great job with this. It captures the mood of Batman even more then the Nolan movies. The costume's for Batman and Joker are great. The musical score by Danny Elfman is amazing, and memorable. Also Billy Dee Williams does a great job as Harvey Dent which makes me wish they kept him around to be Two-Face in Batman Forever, and Jack Nicholson is fun as the Joker but his characterization is a bit off.

Which brings me to some of the bad points. The Joker doesn't really act insane, his sanity seems to be more bent then broken. Sure he's a complete Psychopath but he doesn't really seem that different then when he was Jack Napier, except he laughs a lot more and act's a bit more demented.Then there's the fact we know who he is before he became the Joker, but in the comics it's more of a mystery. Plus why would any one work for him when they know at any time he could ask for there gun and shoot them.

Then we get to my biggest problem, Batman kill's in this movie. That goes completely against his character, yeah I know he killed in the original comics but that character has evolved over the years, and now Batman doesn't kill. He's also very inconsistent about it. He try's to save Jack Napier but he also drops a guy down the Cathedral and blows up a factory full of people. Batman just act's really out of character. I don't blame Michael Keaton, but this Bruce Wayne is a social invert to the point people don't even know what he looks like. People would suspect him, especially when he sleeps with Vicki Vale, and after she fall's asleep he goes and sleeps like a bat.

This is why I chose to review this. A good movie versus a good adaptation, because this is not a good adaptation. But is it a good movie? The answer is yes and no. It has plot holes sure, and they had to work on the story a bit but It's still an enjoyable movie. The cinematography is great, and despite getting the characters wrong it still retains the feel of the comics. Which is a very important thing. Plus if it wasn't for this we probably would never of got Batman the Animated series. I recommend this if your a fan of Batman but never read a lot of the comics. This movie will probably be much worse for you if you have a working knowledge of them.

Rating: 3/5