The Titans TV Show Costumes

***shouts out to @lakelpruitt( follow him) for posting these images


Sigh.....

When the first images of the Titans tv show showed up on line, people were rightfully concerned.  People thought it looked kinda cheesy, like poor cosplay.  And it Starfire's instance, like... people took it to a whole other level in terms of what or who she was representing.  DC fan and DC executives were like, " Chill out- the CGI is not done".  And for me, I accepted that because I remember how much we all freaked out at the first appearance of Apocalypse in the X-Men movie- even tho that movie turned out to be ass cheeks.

Well, as we get closer and closer to the launch of the DC streaming service, we are getting more and more images of Titans and ... well, lets just look at them and describe the carnage

Robin

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I am starting with Robin because he is by far the best looking of the bunch of them.  Costume looks very similar to comic book represenaton and as the leader of the Titans, its nice that he has a costume that is familiar to fans who may not be hardcore comic book fans.

Beast Boy

Things start to fall apart pretty quickly.  To qoute my friend Anna from @annareadscomics( follow her), she said he looks like he was slimed on Nickelodeon and its true.  His "costume" is a piss poor Thriller jacket.  You could see this outfit on any emo teenager at the mall hanging outside of Hot Topixx.  This is not even poor cosplay- its just a kid with a bad green dye job and a jacket from Goodwill.

Raven

The reason some of these shows are not successful is because they take deeply troubled characters and dye their hair and put them in all black clothes and now she is the "moody one".  Raven is such a complex character and to have her reduced to a character from the Descendants is a disservice to the character. 

StarFire

I am going to choose my words carefully here.  You see, many people( white fanboys) are going to point to this moment/character as to why this show will, in their opinion, fail.  They will wail and scream that race bending the character is the reason the show sucks and SJW's and blah, blah, blah.  Now how are we race bending and orange alien aside, I am not sure how the producers of this show came up with this look.  On top of that, the wig is atrocious, and, lets keep it real, having a Black Woman character dressed this way is sending out a certain signal that is shady at best and racist at worst.

Look, for me, this show was a no go anyway.  The Titans have solid representations of their characters already in comics, movies, and two super popular cartoons.  I did not need to see a Titans live action show and I damn sure didn't need it on an additional streaming platform.  These pictures are InHuman levels of bad and we saw how that turned out.

Look hopefully its good, but the early returns look straight awful and I hope it looks better before the show premiers next year.

The Producer

The Joker Movie Gets a Title

Joker Movie Gets Title


DC/WB announced today that the Joaquin Phoenix led Joker movie has a title.  The name of the movie will be.... wait for it..... Joker.

That's pretty much it.  DC has moved forward on this project, along with another Joker project starring Jared Leto.  Each movie starring a version of the Joker origin story.  As we discussed on the Marvel Hacks Podcast, it seems now, each (white) method actor wants to take their shot at playing the Joker role to see if they can equal or better the performance of the late Heath Ledger.  DC seems to be going along with this hoping to catch lighting in a bottle again without thinking: Does anyone really want to see a story about the Joker's origin and how do you make a movie about a psychopath who has not heroic tendencies?

The Joker is a fun character to play with but he is a homicidal maniac.  There is no "jokes" to the character like Deadpool.  His Jokes lead to massive amounts of death and suffering and I am not sure the movie going public has two hours of that in them... let alone 2 movies of it.

DC/WB still seem to be floundering trying to find their way in this superhero pool.  I am not sure if two Joker movies is the way out tho.

The Producer

Movie Review: I Feel Pretty

We here @brothascomics took one for the team this week.  Truth be told, I have never understood America's ( white) fascination with Amy Schumur. I mean, she is not really funny, but for some reason, she is an icon of younger, white women who view her as some cross between feminist icon and comedy genius.

Her movies have been hit or miss at the box office and her latest offering is more of the same.  Schumur stars as Renee, a website designer living in New York City struggling to be at peace with herself and find love in the Big City.  She feels she is too big and, like most people, joins a gym to knock off those excess pounds to feel better about herself.

Unfortunately, at the gym one day, she falls and hits her head on the ground and wakes up with this unbelievable view of herself as a fit and pretty girl in New York.  Yet, she is the only person who can see herself this way and her new found confidence gets her a job at a top New York Fashion company, but alienates her old friends who don't see her the way she sees herself.

There is a B-plot love interest story, but really the movie is about Renee's journey to feel comfortable with who she is as a person.  The movie borrows from Big( the Tom Hanks movie) and has a few laughs here and there, but overall, it falls flat in both the comedy and the drama.

Granted, I am not the target audience here for this movie and come in to it with my own personal bias against Schumur.  I am sure a young woman would view this movie quite differently than me and I fully understand that.

I give it a thumbs down for me, tho

The Producer

The X-Men Movie Franchise at 18

Its hard to believe that Fox actually got the jump on the super hero team genre over Disney/Marvel but 18 years ago this week, Fox released X-men into theaters a full 8 years before Marvel/Disney released Iron-Man to officially kick off the MCU and get us to an Avengers movie.

18 years ago, the internet was a thing, but not the thing that is is now.  Facts and leaks about the movie were nowhere to be found and I, like many other X-fans, went into the movie not knowing what to expect.  There was so concern about the Matrix-esque costumes and the casting of unknown, Australian actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but for the most part, fans lined up ready to finally see our favorite mutants on the big screen.

I know now its kinda trendy to dismiss the original X-Men movie.  The special EFX are not that special, the fight scenes are kinda bullocks, the Storm line to toad about being struck by lighting, and of course Halle Berry's attempt at an African accent for only half the movie.

All that said, the movie was good for its time and laid the groundwork for a promising franchise.  When X-2 came out 3 years later, Director Bryan Singer had more money and a better grasp of what made the X-Men special.  The fight scenes are better, the African accent is gone, and the movie has one of the greatest openings of any comic book movie with the introduction of Nightcrawler.  William Stryker plays a great villain and the ending with the Phoenix effect had all fan boys and fan girls ready for the Phoenix Saga.

And then it happened, Singer leaves the franchise to make Superman Returns and Brett Rattner is brought onto to direct X-Men 3 and the rest is history.  The movie is a disaster with critics and most importantly fans who had been so hyped to finally see a Phoenix story but to have it bogged down with The Cure storyline, The Morlocks, and quick disappearing acts by fan favorites Cyclops and Professor Xavier.  The franchise craters at this point; although no one knew it at the time.

Its 2006- 2 years before Marvel gets into the super hero game and Fox is at a crossroads.  Do they move ahead with another X-movie or spin off their most popular character- Wolverine into a movie.  They choose the latter, but make a fatal flaw in choosing a director not familiar with characters and decide to tell the Wolverine: Origins story, but don't really stick to the story.  Logan( James) and Sabertooth are brothers, Will. I AM, The Deadpool.... just a series of  missteps that makes the movie at times, unwatchable. Origins craters the franchise and it would be five years before another X-movie gets made.

In 2011, 3 years after Iron-Man and the Incredible Hulk and the same year as Iron Man 2 and Thor, X-Men First class premiers in June, 2011.  The franchise opted for a soft-reboot- foregoing the previous, Wolverine focused X-movies, and focusing on the founder of the X-Men, Charles Xavier and his best friend/enemy, Magneto,  A new class of mutants and a fresh start leads to a renewed interest in the X-Men and Fox has a new lease on life as the super hero genre of movies is red hot.

RIP Darwin

The X-movies are able to bring back director Bryan Singer for the follow up to First Class: Days of Future Past.  There was much trepidation by X-Men comic fans because the last adaption of a classic X-story flopped tremendously in X3.  But somehow, Singer and company were able to bring Wolverine back and bridge the original movies with the First Class universe and it worked.  The Wolverine sequel in 2013; although not great, is not as awful as Origins and mutants are back to being popular again. Its 2014 and Fox is actively competing with Disney/Marvel in the super hero movie business!

But like X3 before it, the third movie in this trilogy of movies, is historically bad.  X-Men: Apocalypse is pretty horrific.  Bad villain, poor acting, Magneto a Horseman of Apocalypse, Angel dies in a plane crash( he can fly, ya'll), lightskinded Storm, way too much Mystique, and a rush into a Phoenix story that was not earned.  The movie is a critical failure and a fanboy and fangirl failure. 

Fox pivots slightly before rushing into the next X-Men movie and score mega hits with Deadpool and Logan as they look to expand their mutant roster outside of Wolverine and the X-Men. Maybe this was the plan all along or maybe this plan was forced with the retirement of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

But what does the future hold for out mighty Mutants? Fox has branched out into tv with two successful shows with Legion and The Gifted.  A New Mutants movie has been filmed but word on the streets is that it may not be very good.  There has been talks of an X-Force movie, but if you saw Deadpool 2, that may not happen at all. The Gambit movie is long delayed(thank God).  And of course, there is the rumored 2-part Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga.  The movie has been dogged by re-shoots and has been delayed until 2019.  Word on the street is that it may be a mess of a movie and with the Disney/Fox merger weeks from becoming official, this may be the last we see of this group of X-Men.

So 18 years has been a wild ride.  Many highs and quite a few lows, but overall, there are some solid X-Movies made by Fox.  They definitely could have been better, but for the most part, they have attempted to give fan service to long time X-Men comic books fans. That being said, I trust Marvel/Disney more than Fox at this point and cant wait until their version of the X-Men.

The Producer

We Watched it For You: Death of Superman 2018

Stop me if you heard this one before.... there is a story by DC about the Death of Superman!  Whether in the comic book, on Justice League Unlimited, in a full feature animated movie, in Batman V Superman, and now in The Death of Superman( 2018), DC goes back to the well to tell us the story of Superman dying at the hands of Doomsday.  I mean, this is not even a spoiler alert at this point.


This 2018 version has Clark/Superman as a member of the Justice League and  in a secret relationship with Lois Lane.  This is the full on hope version of Superman- the people look up to him and love him and expect to be there for them whenever things go wrong.

At the same time, he is troubled by his burgeoning relationship with Lois which is on the down low- which Clark loves because of his secret identity.  But Lois is looking for more and wanting more and a visit from Ma and Pa Kent she feels is a perfect time to get to know Clark better.

Meanwhile. something has come from the sky and landed itself on Earth.  Everyone is curious as to what fell from the sky- including Lex Luthor who sends out an expedition to the ocean to discover the mystery.  Of course its Doomsday and they offer no real explanation as to why Doomsday fell to Earth but for the most part I guess that does not matter.

Doomsday, like all other versions of this story, makes his way through everyone until we get our final boss battle with Superman.  The Justice League play a support role in this and you get some solid, classic animation battles, but we all came for the match up between Superman and Doomsday!

We all know how this ends though. so I am not really spoiling anything.  How they get to that point is a bit different than the previous animation version, but the conclusion is just the same.  More than anything, stay for the four post credit scenes which seem to be setting up a sequel that will more closely mirror the comic book version of the Death of Superman.

Overall, a solid addition from DC Animation; although not markedly better than the Superman: Doomsday movie.  They truly have a much better grasp of their characters in animation than they do in live action- especially Superman.  I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up!!

The Producer

The Marvel Hacks Season 6 Annual

The Marvel Hacks are back for the conclusion of Season 6 with an annual issue closing out our summer run.  In Blerd Notes we review Ant-Man and the Wasp and talk about Billy Dee Williams coming back to Star Wars.  Plus, we say RIP to Steve Ditko and discuss the lies Kevin Feige has told about the plans Marvel has for X-Men and Fantastic Four.

In Comics we review Batman 50, Spider-Man #1 and Captain America #1.  Plus Immortal hulk gives us CreepShow Vibes, and The X-Books are spinning their wheels until they get a refresh.

Come check us out and listen.  Rate, review, and subscribe to our podcast.

Marvel Hacks Season 3 Annual

Is it Worth a Redbox: Tomb Raider 2018

Real talk... video game adaptations to movies are bad.  Often times they are horrendous but that does not stop Hollywood from continuing to try.  This new attempt at Tomb Raider has no connection to the early 2000 movies starring Angelina Jolie and that's probably a good thing.  Those two movies are not very good- with the 2nd one being just gawd awful.

Coming off her Oscar win for The Danish Girl and her outstanding performances in Ex Machina and the Man from U.N.C.L.E, Alicia Vikander was tapped to play Laura Croft.  This sent fanboy twitter into a fury as she "looks" nothing like Angelina Jolie who appeared she came off the cover of the Tomb Raider video game in the 2000's.

Fan boy twitter always wants to keep women as one note, sex objects who fulfill all their masturbatory fantasies and Vikander's casting and take on the roll did not meet their limited expectations and they began to trash the movie long before its release.

So how is the actual movie... It's ok for a video game movie. Vikander stars as Lara Croft and this take of the characters has her as the grieving the death of her father who has gone missing seven years ago searching an island off of Japan for an ancient artifact.  When news comes that maybe her missing dad is not dead, she sets off following his tracks to find him.  In that journey, she crashes on the island, meets our villain played by Walter Scroggins.  Scroggins and his team are also on the island searching for the same artifact.

The story winds into the tombs as they search for the missing treasure.  The movie goes off the rails a bit into a weird version of Goonies and The Mummy as it winds to its conclusion.  The action and set pieces are fine enough; although the special FX are a bit cheesy.

The biggest issue here is that this movie- starring a  great actress did not do well- not only because its not a great movie, but also because toxic fan boys have such a limited view of women in film and each time a movie like this under performs, it gives studios ammunition  to prevent future films starring women.

So is it worth a Redbox? Ima say no, but if you are struggling to find something to rent, you could find a much worse movie in the Box!

The Producer

Trailers Before Antman and The Wasp

Just got out of Ant-Man and the Wasp and the movie is good fun and a much needed break from the downer ending of Infinity War.  But before the movie got started, we got a few trailers and we'll break them down for you right here. First up...

Mission Impossible: Fallout

They have really been pushing this movie.  Possibly because of all the real life stunts and injuries Tom Cruise suffered. Perhaps its because Henry Cavill's beard was better than Justice League or maybe because this is Tom Cruise's only viable movie option since he became a grade A weirdo.
Regardless. the movie look great.  Cruise has owned this role like Downey did Tony Stark and both should milk every dollar possible.  I am much more interested in the relationship between Angela Bassett and Cavill than anything Ethan Hunt does.  Will definitely see this one when it comes out!!

The Spy Who Dumped Me

When this came on, I really thought it was a promo for Bad Moms 3.  I used to enjoy Mila Kunis but that infatuation wore off probably around the Book of Eli. This movie looks like silly fun- which we all could use more of and I am a big supporter of female led anything.  But it also looks like a paint by numbers, fish out of water movie and after seeing the trailer, I think Melissa Mccarthy made this movie a few years ago called Spy so Ima pass on this one and catch it on Redbox of the Firestick

A-X-L

I had to LOL at the title of this movie and the premise is just as laughable.  Its the story of a lost AI dog found by a teenager with the government and its creators hunting it down.  Its ET and the first Transformers movie all rolled into a mash up no one asked for.  It even has the cute/sexy brunette playing opposite of the lead.  This is a movie not made for people my age so its a big fat no for me unless my kids force me to take them to see it!

The House with a Clock in its Walls

I had no idea what this movie was about until  my 11 year old daughter told me it was based on a book.  When I first saw Jack Black I thought it was the Goosebumps sequel we were promised. But alas, it was not.  I am all for books being turned into movies; although each year the adaptations seem to get younger and I get older.  I will see this movie even though me and Jack Black are not movie friends.  My daughter will force me to see it and I cannot say no to her. I do love Cate Blanchett tho so all is not lost!

The Meg

I put this out to my closest group of friends and Ima say it to you, too.  If you see this movie IN the movie theater- meaning you paid real ass money for tickets, popcorn, candy, soda, etc... we cannot be friends anymore.  Look, movies like Sharknado have a place and that place is on tv and watching it in your house for free.  To go out and pay money for this- that's just damn irresponsible.  It looks dumb and I'm sure it is dumb.  The hardest of all passes!

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Damn my daughter is going to get me again. I have sat through ballets of the Nutcracker and through the Barbie version with my daughter.  This idea of expanding the story out kinda makes me a little uneasy and they are going with the Black guy being the hand servant of the star which is a tired ass movie trope. But yay... Kiera Knighley?  I don't know.  I will be forced to see it because  I cannot say no to my daughter in this situation so sign me up and take my money!

Dumbo

I don't mess with Tim Burton- mostly because, as Brother Beavis has said, he cannot do anything but make a Tim Burton movie.  Disney live action remakes have been solid, but Dumbo is kinda racist as f@ck with them damn crows so its not on my list of Disney movies to watch.  I am curious as to how they handle that issue- especially since the director has a touchy history of casting Black folks as caricatures in his movies.  It's a hard no from me!!

Was hoping for the Captain Marvel trailer but it never happened.  Let me know what movies you are looking forward to seeing in the comments section!

The Producer

Comic Con Revolution: West Palm Beach

The good folks at Comic Con Revolution were kind enough to grant Brothascomics media credentials for their first con in West Palm Beach, Florida this year. The kids and I packed into the mini van and headed about one hour south on the Florida Turnpike to attend Comic Con Revolution! in Orlando for the first time. The mission of brothascomics is to bring you convention coverage for people who have not attended cons before or who have trepidation about doing so.  In the past, conventions have not been the most friendly to people of color.  We aim to help ease those fears by reviewing the con experience and by encouraging people to attend!!

The Badge Process

This is one of the most critical ..... of the comic con convention experience.  It seems like its not a big deal but its a huge deal.  This is the first impression after people get into the convention center and if this process delays people getting in, its a bad first impression.  At Revolution the process was fairly easy. With Media access, we picked up out badges in a different area, but I still needed to pick up badges for my kids.  The lines were not excessively long and volunteers were around to assist customers who looked to be lost.  As we say with all our con reviews tho... if its possible, pick up your badge early so you can avoid the lines.

Con Size

Revolution is a one day comic con experience.  Unlike other cons that go for the entire weekend( sometimes even four days), this is a one day event that still had guests and panels. but just on the Saturday.  The event space in the convention center was spacious enough with room for all the vendors and guests.  The panels were held in conference rooms outside of the main hall and were spaced out enough for you to plan out your whole day.

The Guest List

For a first year con, Revolution had a great mix of pop culture and comic book artists.  I was able to meet and interview Archie artist Joe Eisma, cover artist Greg Land, and artist Vanessa Del Ray.  In addition, I was able to interview Ming Chen of the AMC's Comic Book Men.  All were very nice and really seemed to enjoy talking to their fans.  Often tines, some creators don't engage with the public but many of the guests were very out going in meeting fans.

Cosplay

We always look to spotlight cosplayers- especially cosplayers of color as we admire their dedication to their characters ans craft.  Well done folks!

Overall, a great experience!  Cannot wait for next year. I hope the con expands into two or three days, expands its guest list, and grows more and more each year!  Great work by the folks at West Palm Beach Comic Con Revolution!!

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: Molly's Game

In our continued series of reviewing summer movies from Redbox, we have more of an adult feature film- a chance from our usual family fare movie reviews. 


A few years ago, there was a Hollywood scandal involving high stakes celebrity poker games and the money being won and lost at those games.  Several big name stars were dragged into the scandal- most noticeably Ben Affleck and Toby Maguire.  Coming out of that scandal was the story of the woman who organized the game, Molly Bloom.  This movie is an adapted screenplay from the book she wrote and stars  Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba and is written and directed by longtime Hollywood director, Aaron Sorkin!


The story of Molly Bloom, former Olympic team hopeful in skiing whose career was ended by a fluke accident during the Olympic Trials.  Following that accident, the college graduate forgoes law school to take odd jobs in Los Angeles as a waitress and executive assistant.


Her executive assistant job gets her invited to a high stakes, weekly poker game hosted by her boss.  In that game, she meets and mingles with the elites in acting, sports, and music The movie does not name names, but from most accounts, the player listed as Player X is Toby Maguire( played by Michael Cera). Molly, not knowing much about Poker, studies the men and the game and each week makes herself more and more valuable to the operation of the game and she is well liked by Player X.  Her boss, who is losing money each week from his gambling habit, takes it out on Molly and tells her he will no longer pay her at her day job- putting her working the Poker game in jeopardy.  Molly sensing what is going to happen, recruits Player X and many of the player she met into her own high stakes Poker Game.

Of course, when you are playing high stakes games such as Poker, it attracts a different crowd and criminal element and the story in the movie is told in a flashback style that allows you to see the rise and fall of Molly Bloom and the descent of her life and character as her life begins to fall apart.  Idris Elba plays her lawyer who has a heart for her plight but mostly just wants to see justice done for his client.

Chastain is the real star here playing the role of a sympathetic figure who at time makes if very difficult to have sympathy for.  Molly is both fun and engaging, but also naïve and stubborn and Chastain plays this complicated character very well.

Sorkin keeps the script moving at a brisk pace and even tho the subplot of the psychological reasoning behind her criminal behavior seeks to justify her criminal activity, its kept until the last act of the film.  Kevin Costner plays her dad in the film.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable film.  A good date night movie to watch with a bottle of wine.  Thumbs way up!


The Producer

The Dusty Finish with the X-Men and Batman

Before we get started, I guess I need to explain the Dusty Finish.  Now, we @brothascomics have varied interests beyond comic books.  One of our guilty geek pleasures is professional wrestling.  We watched it as kids, grew up on it, and watched it into our adulthood.  We loved the NWA and WCW and spent many days watching TBS on Saturday mornings and Saturday nights.  We loved the Road Warriors, the Rock and Roll Express, Magnum TA,  The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, and of course The Nature Boy Ric Flair! Whooooo!

Now we enjoyed wrestling at a time where fans didn't know any of the inside lingo brought about by the Monday Night Wars and the explosion of internet wrestling fans.  There was no smark community in the 80's and fans didn't know anything about a work, cutting a promo, heat, pops( cheap pops), and wrestlers going kayfab.  This was unknown to wrestling fans back in the day and may be unknown to you as you are reading this.  But don't worry, The Producer will explain it all before we are finished( look for wrestling terms in blue)  Or you can listen to the Legend Jim Cornette explain the Dusty Finish

One of those wrestling terms that came out of the phenomenon of internet wrestling fans was who was holding the book- a common term for the person back stage who is booking the matches. Back in the mid to late 80's of NWA/WCW, Dusty Rhodes held the Book  and scheduled and planned matches, feuds, and determined who was gonna go over( win)  and who would be champion. The problem was that Dusty was also an active wrestler and having him book his own matches often created a major conflict of interest with the boys in the back( the wrestlers). Now Dusty was known to be smart and put the business( wrestling) over his own personal interests as a wrestler.  However,  often times when Dusty was wrestling, he would get himself over( loved or hated by the fans) by booking a screw job finish to the match.  The ref would get knocked out, there would be a phantom 3 count,  a wacky DQ or count out finish.... all of these were affectionately named a Dusty Finish as they occurred often when Dusty had the book.  The match would set up one way, end with the screwjob ending,  and the fans don't get what they expected.  The Dusty Finish was a classic way to get heat for the heel( anger for the bad guy in the match) or a way to get a pop/cheap pop( cheers) for the babyface( good guy).  Regardless, often times fans left the arena angry because of the Dusty Finish, but came back next week to see how this goofy situation would resolve itself.

Well, Marvel and DC set their fans up for many months with a classic Dusty Finish.  For many months, Marvel had teased the marriage of long time X-Men teammates Kitty Pryde and Colossus.  This would be the conclusion of a thirty-plus year relationship interrupted by other love interests, cheating hearts, marriages, divorce, and even death.  Regardless, Marvel for many issues, pushed this engagement and by the time we got to issue #30 of X-Men Gold, we were all primed for their marriage!  We get guest appearances by long time characters important in their history and even Wolverine shows up( which one- IDK).  Everything is looking kosher....... until we get the Dusty Finish as Kitty gets cold feet after a conversation with her best friend Illyana and she pulls a runaway bride leaving me and many other fans in the dark as to why set fans up for this event, promote it for several months, and get all the cheap pops that came with it- just to throw it away with  a Dusty Finish?  And X-Men Gold doubled down with the Dusty Finish by then marrying off two other characters( Double Dusty)

DC, in their own right, had a hold my beer moment after the news of Kitty and Peter broke.  For many months and issues and mainstream press, the proposal and upcoming marriage between Batman and Catwoman was promoted everywhere.  Comic shops, on EW, The Today Show, and even the New York Times spoke of the marriage to be in Batman #50.  DC took all the pops/cheap pops over the months moving forward this storyline! It seemed like a great move as Batman is the flagship character for DC and Bruce Wayne getting married to Catwoman is every Bat fanboy fantasy!

Alas, Bruce and Selena were not to be.  The New York Times spoiled the nuptials as Bruce and Selena do not wind up getting married.  The reason why is a pure "Because Comics" moment and now DC is getting heat from fans who bought into this engagement with their time, money, and emotions to get screwed by a Dusty Finish (and allegedly Batman #50 also has a Double Dusty Finish)!

This may not seem like a big deal, but to me, it is.  Comics from the Big Two have a trust issue with readers in providing content that is meaningful and not just events to get fans to buy the books.  And where the event itself may be cool for comic fans to see, these events often don't have any long lasting effects to the characters continuity.  Characters move from one world changing event to the next with no real emotional attachment to the event.  And this spreads to the readers and fans. Why should I make an emotional and financial investment into these characters when the company wont do the same? The company's are living on cheap heat and cheap pops to build interest, but eventually let the fans down by copping out at the end.  And even tho this is not a new tactic in comics, each time its done, it erodes more and more trust with the comics and retires long time readers of the books.

I was looking forward to reviewing Batman #50!  It will lead off the season premiere of The Marvel Hacks Season 4!  We recorded our podcast of X-Men Gold 30 on the Marvel Hack sand you can listen to that right here.

The Marvel Hacks, Season 3 Ep 6

Here's to the next Dusty Finish- I am sure its right around the corner!

The Producer

Is it Worth a Redbox: Rampage

Everytime I write about the Rock, I always feel I lead with this notation about how much I like The Rock as a person and a wrestler, but most of his movies leave me out in the cold.  I did enjoy the Jumanji remake- fully expecting to dislike it.  But for the most part, the movies he makes are not for me and that is ok.

When I heard Rampage, the popular 80's video game, was being made into a movie, it almost sent me into a rampage.  Not because I have some ridiculous amount of love for the video game; although Brother Beavis and myself spent a minor, teenage fortune playing it at Krazy Kats in our hometown.  It was just the idea of that video game being made into a movie- in a market where video game adaptations have generally been awful.  I mean just awful!!

The first trailers for the movie did nothing to ease my fears that this movie would be a train wreck and I avoided any and all information about the movie once it was released. In fact, I had a media credential for Rampage and I gave away the promotional tickets to a co- worker who loves the Rock.

But alas, the job of the Producer of Brothascomics forces me to watch things for our readers and listeners so when Rampage was finally released on DVD, I felt obligated to review it.  Let me just say... I do alot for you guys and this was me taking one for the team.

The movie is terrible on so many levels.  I really do not know where to begin.  Genetic testing gone wrong in space, The Rock as a grizzled, former veteran- but who has a heart for animals and hates poachers, the way over the top villain played by Malin Ackerman and her ridiculous brother,  Jefferey Dean Morgan doing a southern accent that is almost comical, but not mean to be.... I could go on forever!

Regardless, the movie is full of Rock-ism's as he plays a big guy with a heart for animals and his best friend is George, the albino ape.  Of course, George gets infected by the space genetic goop, and he and a wolf and an alligator set out to Chicago to stop an emitting energy signal that is hurting them.  Its beyond ridiculous!  There is a sub-plot with a disgraced, former scientist that works at the lab who conducted the genetic testing..... the movie is a true mess.

The big battle at the end has the creature in Chicago destroying the buildings like the video game but the movie took itself way too seriously initially for the camp to kick in as a part of the 3rd act.  Instead of playing into the insane premise of the movie, like Sharknado, they played this as a straight action movie until the final act!  The movie is a true cliche of hiring star power over script and hoping that people will just watch this movie because they love the Rock.  And the movie did ok domestically and abroad, but I don't imagine there will be a Rampage 2.

Overall, I would skip it.  For old school heads like me, the nostalgia of the video game will not out weigh the terriblness of the movie.  Full skip- save that $1.59 for something better!

The Producer

Brothascomics takes on New York City Comic Con

If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere....  at least that is what Sinatra said!  I had never considered going to New York before even though I grew up on hip-hop as an East Coast rap head.  From Run-DMC to the Beastie Boys, to Nas and Mobb Deep... I know all about the landmarks through music but never once considered a trip to the city,  Maybe it was fear and the stereotypes perpetrated in the music, but I was fine keeping myself away from the boroughs.

However, the great folks at New York City Comic Con granted Brothascomics a media credential to New York City Comic Con and I had to go.  Luckily my wife had been to the city and lived in New Jersey and helped book our flight and hotel over in Newark, New Jersey.  Once settling in, it was onto the Path train to head into the city.

And what an event I was walking into.  In previous reviews I spoke about the badge process and how that can be a major factor in determining how a con is run.  Now, this is a huge convention.  I definitely would be weary of making this your first convention.  Not only do you have the crowds for the con, but the normal crowds for being in NYC. Badges were mailed out to media members and you register the badge on-line and the con has a scan in process and access into the con was very easy.  One of the smoothest I have ever been to.

Once inside the convention, there is something for everyone.  Whatever your geek fantasy is, you will be able to find it.  Is it comics? Gaming? Authors? Actors? Movies?  Its all here, all on the convention floor.  The best thing you can do is download the NYCC app and have a schedule made ahead of time.  Without a plan, you can spend hours wondering through the crowds or showing up late to a panel and not getting inside because the meeting room is full.  Its all too much to take in for one day so you need to go everyday and schedule the events you want to do most.


The Cosplay was outstanding at NYCC and that is no surprise. In a city so diverse with so many talented people, they really were able to show their best and had some of the best cosplay I have seen outside of DragonCon in Atlanta.

Overall, this was an amazing 3 day experience. I cannot wait to go back next year.  I will be more organized and make sure I get a chance to catch more of the sights and sounds of New York City and of New York City Comic Con


The Producer