Review – Moon Knight #1
Review – Moon Knight #1. The mysterious Mr Knight has opened his Midnight Mission, protecting his people from the weird and horrible.
Review – Ant-Man (2015)
Review – Ant-Man (2015) for BGCP Marvel Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll star in the superhero heist movie
Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017)
Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) Run Time: 2hrs 13mins Directed by: Jon Watts Produced by: Kevin Feige Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Jacob Batalon Marisa Tomei and Zendaya Release Date: July 7th 2017 Production company: Marvel Studios Full Spoilers Retrospective Review Tone Tom Holland was the first truly teen Spider-man at 19 when he showed up in Captain America: Civil War. Much to the joy of Kevin Smith, the first onscreen wall crawler with a comic accurate, Queens accent. Spider-man: Homecoming wall crawls on similar paths to it’s predecessors. Homecoming isn’t an origin story like the previous franchise starters, but it’s not much further down the line. It’s easy to forget that this Peter lost his uncle and father figure in the last year. All of his scenes with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May are light and sweet but don’t have much substance. None come near the one with Aunt May after Uncle Ben’s funeral in the first Rami film. He has a closer friendship with Ned than the ones seen with both Harry Osborns in past films. The two spend all their time together and seem well liked by their classmates. Flash is still there to pick on Peter but he’s more of a frenemy than a physical bully. It’s an interesting take on their rivalry. Peter pines over Liz Allan while a thinly veiled Mary Jane hangs in the wings played by Zendaya. Genre Spider-man: Homecoming applies the half-another-genre style of MCU films and that other half is teen comedy, specifically the ones made by John Huges. A homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off damn near beats us to death at one point. It does work quite well, there’s plenty of fun interactions and most scenes are spun in a entertaining fashion, only getting serious when needed. Like most MCU films, humour can feel forced. Peter as Spider-man commandeers (really steals) Flash’s car and ends up wrecking it which. I get that they’re showing Peter as an inexperienced web slinger. Or maybe just the logistics of web swinging across Queens which they did earlier in the film to great effect, buuuut this just felt wrong. Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) continues below Pete’s feelings for Liz and his pursuit of her seem equally light and superficial but that does track as puppy teenager love. They only have dramatic weight when It’s revealed who Liz’s father is. Young Spider-man’s main concern is a fear of missing out on Avengers action, since Tony Stark hasn’t made him a regular team member after Civil War. Peter’s either being left on read by Happy or he’s dealing with the douchiest version of Tony brought to life by Robert Downey Jr. Who makes an inappropriate joke about Aunt May that left a bad taste in my mouth. He just comes across as mean to the young Spidey, as he mishandles the new superhero’s concerns about the Vulture’s crew. A shame because I still think he gave one of his best and most relatable performances as the character in Civil War. Ironlad Spider-man being Ironman junior is the biggest complaint held against the MCU’s wall crawler. Which I get, Tony has been shown as having a bigger impact on this Peter’s life than Uncle Ben had in the MCU. Maybe this web head, is a little too focused on Ironman but that’s just this version of Spider-man. We can still celebrate how he’s similar to a more classical interpretation and be excited about where he’s going to go that’s different. This universe started with Ironman and if the Sony/Disney relationship continues to work, it will be passed on to Holland’s Spider-man, these choices make sense. Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) continues below The gadget equipped Stark suit drew a sizeable amount of criticism which I also get. I do however respect that Peter taking to his AI, Karen, was an attempt to translate the streams of thought and oddly speech bubbles that would come out of the neurotic Spidey in the comics. The translation of his emotive eyes from the page being dampeners for his heightened senses as well as fancy goggles is a smoother transition but Karen and Peter’s chats weren’t all bad to be fair. The Birdman The Vulture had always been a dorky Spider-man villain, most of the earlier ones were but this old man in a bird costume never got an edgy revamp that removed him from the goofy section of Spidey’s rogues’ gallery. That is until this film. Adrian Toomes is grounded by Keaton’s gruff performance. His repositioning from engineer to hard-ass boss man of a salvage crew who gets hard done by Stark’s business deals, gives him a believability and ties to the greater MCU. The Tinkerer who is on his crew (as well as two different Shockers) repurposes Chitauri tech from the battle of New York to make Toomes the Vulture. With heftier wings than Falcon and Keaton playing the part like an angry Dad, this Vulture is very menacing. After he has been to revealed as Liz’s father to Peter, we are filled with tension as he deciphers the budding superhero’s dual identity on the car ride to the Homecoming dance. Giving us one of the best scenes of the MCU as well as one of the best onscreen examples of a date with a scary father. Visuals The composition of the cinematography is mostly MCU standard, some highlights but a lot of unimaginative shots. It’s aided by fantastic photorealistic digital effects that blend with the gifted acrobat Tom Holland and his stunt team. The action is on point, and is well worth a rewatching scenes to pick up the specifics of what happens so quickly before your eyes. The great suit design reminiscent of the Steve Ditko Spider-man and just being able to see Spider-man do whatever a Spider-man can is a treat, but it’s clear that isn’t a film with
Review – Marvel’s Black Widow (2021)
Review – Marvel’s Black Widow (2021). Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy arises.
Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 Writer: Al Ewing Artist: Juann Cabal and Marcio Takara Colourist: Frederico Blee Publisher: Marvel Release Date: 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 We continue Al Ewing’s revamped Guardians series and it simply gets better and better. If you haven’t read the first volume, go read it. Or have a look at my previous review here before continuing, a few spoilers appear below! Books 6-12 The first book in Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2 is book 6 “same time next week.” This one, for me, dragged along, I would have preferred something more punchy. However, I get it, it needed to bed the reader in and consolidate the action from the last volume. We find Richard Ryder talking to his therapist about the revelations from the last volume. It is a simple way to remind the reader what happened and to add any additional information we might have missed. For example, I had totally forgotten Marvel Boy and Hercules being a thing! “Let’s talk Politics” This is a diplomatic who dunit murder mystery! Talks between are not particularly constructive but they all kind of agree to disagree. An 80’s stylised Adam Ant esq Marvel boy ends up basically saying, cool, peace it is, happy days. Then heads off to the bog where he finds a dead diplomat and to the others it looks like he is the murderer. More especially when another diplomat enters, whose weapon shoots to kill Marvel Boy but somehow ends up shooting it’s own user! The other diplomats, alerted by the gun fire, find Marvel boy holding the gun… I wonder who will solve this mystery?!? “Business as Usual” Of course the mystery is solved, by none other than Rocket Racoon! With his investigative hat and coats reminiscent of 80’s detective series. With some clever thinking and great witty retorts he settles the matter and figures out the meeting was sabotaged! They discover the culprit or might that be culprits? Plus the reasoning behind it and manage to evade being blown up again! However….Knull is destroying worlds with his dragons and needs to be stopped. “I will make you Star Lord” At last some Peter Quill action, I knew he couldn’t be dead! We catch up to him in the aftermath of him choosing to blow himself up to save his friends in the previous volume. We find out what really happened and how he survived thanks to his boy hood weapon. He has to renew himself into whatever he would like to become as Star Lord, his old life washed away and a new one created in a land beyond, called Morinus. Quill spends hundreds of years there building himself up through various “houses” schooling him into being his true Star Lord self when eventually he accidentally released the gods out of his weapon and they threaten to destroy that universe. He decided they will probably follow him so, it is time to travel through the the sacred pool, back to his original reality. To protect Morinus and the friends that saved him. Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 continues below. “I think I had this Album” Knull and his dragons are, in their mind cleansing the earth and making it a home for evil. The next target is SPARTAX. Of course the guardians can’t defeat him and his dragons alone, luckily for them Star Lord falls out of the sky just in time to blast a dragon in the face! “Here we make our stand” the Olympian gods are making a come back again! However, first Quill or Starlord manages to let the team know what’s about to go down whist Al Ewing let’s the characters deal with their emotions from the recent story arc. Ewing even makes time for references to the annihilation event written 15 years ago! Long term fans are going to appreciate this reference. It builds up for the final show down in book 12. As well as for later series leaving Knull for the next writer. “The Time of Mercy Is Past” The rag tag, odd ball group of mercenaries are reunited but will it last? Of course it will, or they wouldn’t have any more comics to write and sell! The story picks up quickly from where it left off, allowing the characters to realise they are worth more together than as separate individuals. Despite punches to the face by an angry Gamora. Zeus is put down by the team learning to work together.Groot is sadly destroyed but quickly bought back to life using his head and the power of the infinity stones. Now Groot can only utter those 3 little words and now we know why! GotG have def upped their game, I think Ewing’s writing has defiantly upped them to super hero status. Art and Writing This is Cabals last Guardians of the Galaxy series sadly. So yes, truly an end of an era, but what a great 12 books he has produced the art for along side Ewing who has really added some nice moments and character developments. These were well needed for a comic series that had stagnated, where the films have taken over. A lot of love is given to outsider characters, such as Nova.The writing is complimented beautifully by Juann Cabal’s artwork throughout the series. With the amazing colourist Frederico Blee, who gives the vivid blues, greens and pink colour clashes to the art which is truly a feast for the eyes and works an absolute treat with the galactic theme. Guest artist in Marcio Takara adds another new dimension, taking nothing away from Cabal. He adds a twist on Cabal’s designs, very subtlety but managing to stamp the books he worked on clearly as his own. As well as some of the other cover artists involved. Final Thoughts Overall I think Ewing and co deserve the hype they have garnered. They have pulled back this series, given it a twist and the kick
Review – Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell
Review – Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell Publisher: Marvel Comics Writer: Chip Zdarsky Pencilers: Marco Checchetto, Lalit Kumar Sharma & Jorge Fornes Inkers: Marco Checchetto, Jay Leisten & Jorge Fornes Colourist: Sunny Gho, Java Tartaglia & Jordie Bellaire Letterer: Clayton Cowles I recently got to read through Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell for review and although I had read the first five issues of this run in the past, it was interesting to see where writer Chip Zdarsky took the character directly after those five issues. To Heaven Through Hell follows a Matt Murdock who is a good bit into his career as a crime-fighting vigilante and is starting to grow older too. In the story arc prior to this one, he was struck by a truck whilst saving a child and so, when this story opens, he is still in recovery from the near-death experience. What Zdarsky does with this setup at the opening of this TPB is fascinating and he uses Matt’s current predicament as a clever way to re-establish this character to both newcomers and Daredevil veterans alike. I love it when a storyteller does this; uses a recent plot point to craft a subtle re-introduction of an iconic character. It means that readers with no prior knowledge of the character’s history can immediately jump on-board with the story being told, whilst being careful not to bore fans familiar with the character or condescend them either. In the first issue, Zdarsky also wastes absolutely zero time establishing Matt Murdock’s morals, history, religious ties & powers. All of these vital character elements are immediately evident or at least hinted at and never in a way that feels contrived or unnatural. This aspect of the storytelling in this book is masterful. Without having to explicitly come out and say, this guy has sonar abilities and is a devout catholic, these aspects of the character are made clear through more subtle means such as dialogue. On the second page, the girl that Matt is chatting to at the bar asks if she can have one of his painkiller, to which he bluntly responds; “That would be illegal.” In just one short response, Zdarsky manages to encapsulate Matt’s moral compass, his career as a lawyer and his unwavering commitment to always do the right thing. Frankly, this is one of the best examples of indirectly summing up a character’s ethical standpoint that I have ever read. Another fascinating motif that Zdarsky dips his toes into at the start of this book before fully diving into as the run progresses, is Daredevil’s somewhat inconsistent and fairly questionable no-kill rule. Unlike Batman, who has an extremely staunch perspective on the subject that he will never kill regardless of the circumstances, or Frank Castles antithetical viewpoint that killing criminals is undoubtedly the best practice to prevent them from causing any further harm, Daredevil’s take on the issue is more of a grey area. Over the years, there have been books where Daredevil has chosen to end a criminal’s life and there have been others where he chooses to take an approach more akin to Bruce Wayne’s outlook on the matter. Usually, it depends on the writer telling the story at any given time. However, here Zdarsky retcons this inconsistency in the character’s lore and utilises it to enhance the story being told in this book. Matt explains that early in his Daredevil career, before he really properly knew what he was doing, he did accidentally beat a few crooks too badly, leading to their death. Though, in the years since he has become more precise and is now able to have more self-control so as to ensure he is able to dish out justice without taking lives. Therefore, he hasn’t killed any criminals in for long time. Speaking of the fact that Matt has been the Man Without Fear for a good number of years during this story, it is interesting to get to see an aging Daredevil, somewhat struggling to keep up with his old standards. Hearing Matt’s inner monologue during these sequences really put me in mind of Frank Miller’s Batman from The Dark Knight Returns. In terms of the artwork in this TPB, unfortunetaly it is one of those books where the artist various throughout. By far the highlight is Marco Checchetto’s work in the first five issues of the book. His character designs are unique compared to how past artists have portrayed Matt Murdoch, but it was never off-putting or distracting. Instead, it gave a fresh, unique look to the characters when the first issues dropped back in 2019. His use of shading is extremely well implemented. A really good example of this is in Issue 1, page 7, panel 4. In this panel, Matt is telling the girl he brought home from the bar about why he is on painkillers, while his eyes are covered in shadow from the window pane. Something else that I really appreciated was the visual used for Matt’s sonar ability. It is fairly minimalistic, but also very striking and bold. The colour work by Sunny Gho also greatly enhances this visual choice. His colour work throughout the chapters he worked on in the book is all pretty great. I love the way that he colours the red suit against the dark night sky. Unfortunately, when you move onto issue 6, the look of the book takes a turn for the worst when Lalit Kumar Sharma takes over art duties. In particular, I do not like the way that he chooses to draw Kingpin. Instead of being the brooding brute that we are all familiar with, Sharma draws him as a wide-eyed maniac who is entirely incapable of masking his emotions. This is particularly jarring having just came from the measured, dignified look that Checchetto gave him in the previous issues immediately before this one. Sadly, Sharma’s artwork doesn’t improve whatsoever between this panel and the end of issue 9, which is where his
Review – Avengers Vs X-Men
Review – Avengers Vs X-Men Written by: Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman Pencils by: John Romita Jr, Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert Release Date: 2012 Introduction Avengers vs X-Men is the definition of an event book. It gives us an epic crossover and a superstar lineup both on the creative side as well as in the 616 storyline itself. Released in 2012, Avengers vs X-Men features some of the biggest artists and writers of the time tackling the biggest characters in the Marvel Universe dealing with one of the biggest ideas in comics- the Phoenix. The Phoenix is coming and everyone has opinions about it, so begins Avengers vs X-Men. What better device to pivot our beloved heroes against each other than one of the most popular cosmic forces in the 616 universe! Avengers vs X-Men is a culmination of a half dozen events that had been happening in recent years. The biggest influence, being House of M and the actions Scarlet Witch took in that book. You needn’t read those other books to appreciate Avengers vs X-Men though. They do add extra context and appreciations but the writers do their best to fill us in on what happened. Story The story is massive. It delivers on the name, Avengers vs X-Men, by giving you a plot that justifies their conflict as well as an abundance of fights that you expect from a book like this. They do a decent job at giving breathing room to a lot of characters, and even spreading out smaller moments for other characters. It’s very fun to watch new relationships get some play, like Hope and Spider-Man, or to see old dynamics come to a head like Xavier and Cyclops. There are legit great character beats hidden in this book, particularly with folks like Spider-Man, Cyclops, and Nova. Spider-Man has a scene that I won’t likely forget. The Phoenix is one of those things in comics that risks being played out. It’s used and referenced so much that it’s easy to almost cringe in fear when it’s brought up. They tow the line pretty well in using it in Avengers vs X-Men. At some point, after the Phoenix has chosen a host, they do start to lose the thread of why the X-Men are after Hope. There’s a scene where Cyclops is uber-powered and shows up demanding they hand over Hope that made me put down the book and try to remember why. It’s at this point that they’ve transformed the world for better and are only left chasing Avengers. It’s a big event comic though, so I let it go and kept enjoying the ride. I only need so much motivation to watch superheroes beat each other up. Review – Avengers Vs X-Men continues below That said, the story does stretch a bit long. If it weren’t for what I imagine is a publisher’s mandate, I could see this as more of an 8-10 issue story. 12 issues left it feeling a little bloated. At points it felt like we were nearing the climax, only to have a couple more issues. However, the climax was a rare feat for a Marvel event. It didn’t feel rushed or wrapped up too cleanly. Satisfying compared to other events of the era, perhaps a result of the superstar lineup of writers. I couldn’t help but wonder if this story, contained to an X-title instead of a crossover event, might not have been a bit stronger though. It would have had less publisher influence, more focus on the mutant side of the story, and maybe a more organic fit in the history. I wouldn’t have minded a little less defined lines in who chose what sides too, like what we got in Civil War. Less about teams and more about ideology, especially through a 2021 lens, but I guess that would take away from the title of the book. Art The book features gorgeous superhero art. Narrowing the selection down for this review got particularly difficult. There’s constantly action scenes packed full of characters or cool moments across multiple panels. It takes full advantage of the comic format as a visual medium, giving the reader page after page of fantastic art. They utilize the crossover nature of an event book like this to fill in the background with other characters or details that make the world feel real. Having multiple artists with different styles telling the story in chunks could have been distracting but ultimately it flows pretty smoothly and I enjoyed the changes in style. Review – Avengers Vs X-Men continues below Avengers vs X-Men delivers intimate, close up, character moments as well as the giant, action packed splash pages you expect in a bombastic crossover book. The Phoenix storyline itself lends itself to epic, colorful pages full of fire and screaming faces. We even get some new character designs, as a result of the aforementioned Phoenix and they’re mostly great. From covers to layouts to splashes, the art compliments the story and event pretty brilliantly. Overall The biggest disappointment with this book is the same with a lot of big hallmark events… it doesn’t mean anything. It has no consequences, it has no staying power. The status quo returns pretty quickly after. It’s not like Crisis where you felt it’s impact for 20 years. The book happens, it spikes sales, then after a few months they erase the effects. Heck, this very book exists to erase the effects of House of M. The Phoenix will come back or all of the improvements to the world by The Phoenix Five will be gone. Cyclops will be a normal part of the team again, despite murdering someone. That makes it hard to sink your teeth into. So if you want to enjoy this as a fun 12 episode arc of superhero fights, dive in! If you’re hoping for an impactful, important story of why two of the biggest teams in comics would
Review – Beta Ray Bill #1
Review – Beta Ray Bill #1. The second-most famous wielder of Mjolnir. The right-hand man to the god of Thunder. And now, a warrior without his best weapon.
Review – Immortal Hulk Time of Monsters #1
Review – Immortal Hulk Time of Monsters. Al Ewing joins with writer Alex Paknadel for this one-shot, which explores the horrific tale of the first Hulk!
Review – Deadpool
Review – Deadpool Directed by: Tim Miller Produced by: Ryan Reynolds & Stan Lee Written by: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein & Morena Baccarin Release Date: February 10th 2016 (UK) Believe it or not, this movie came out over five years ago, so I thought that it was high time to go back and revisit the first Deadpool movie for review. It is hard to imagine now following the huge success of this film and its sequel, but there was a time when many thought that this movie would never get made, but I am very glad that it did. The movie served as an origin story to Deadpool, – something that was long awaited by many comic fans. The movie version of The Merc With A Mouth is fairly faithful to his comic book counterpart, at least much more so than the previous iteration of the character that Ryan Reynolds played. Reynolds is fantastic as Deadpool in this film, he truly was born to play the character in my opinion. He brings the crass, funny, violent and energetic energy needed for Deadpool. He manages to consistently do this along with being pretty similar to comic book Deadpool, with the only thing missing from this version being the multiple voices in his head. Now that the rights to the character are with Disney following their acquisition of 20th Century Fox and Deadpool has been confirmed to be joining the MCU, hopefully that is a character trait that we will see developed in future movies. The movie’s plot is pretty straightforward but it is well-written and delivers on what we need it to; humour and action. We are introduced to Wade Wilson and shown how he got his powers after being diagnosed with incurable cancer via flashback. From there we basically follow him while he attempts to track down Ajax, or Francis, (the guy that turned him into Deadpool and made him deformed,) so that he can cure his skin and give him back his good looks. The screenplay isn’t exactly of a Nolan-level complexity, but it doesn’t need to be and it works. The one thing that was always going to either make or break this movie, was the humour. However, the script captures Deadpool’s signature meta humour perfectly, which is an essential as it is a crucial component in what makes up this character and is one of the main reasons why so many people love him. So, if you are one of these fans, don’t fret as the movie is chock full of clever fourth wall breaks and pop-culture references. The film was granted an R-rating by the studio and the filmmakers take full advantage of that fact, with constant violence and egregious amounts of blood splattered along with plenty of f-bombs being dropped throughout the film’s dialogue. The hip hop based score also adds to the energetic tone of the movie and helps to add to the excitement of the action scenes throughout. Overall, whether you are a fan of the Deadpool comic or not, as long as you are into crass humour, over the top cartoon violence and R rated superhero movies, then there is no reason why you won’t love this movie. It is also still the best Fox superhero movie that we ever got some may even argue that it is the best R-rated superhero movie ever produced. [yasr_multiset setid=2] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=2] If you enjoyed Dan’s review of Deadpool, you can check out what he thought of the sequel here. Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE www.bigglasgowcomicpage.com