Showing posts with label JLA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JLA. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Underrated Comicbook Characters: Vera Lynn Black

The world's greatest Manc superheroine!

Saturday, 27 August 2011

The DCUniverse Online Mini-Movies and Motion Comics, Part 1

To advertise the setting of their new online game, DC released some animated videos showing the setting and how the events of the game came about, which would then be fleshed out more in the games' comicbook series.

The videos actually do a really good job of what a possible JLA movie could go, with a variety of powersets and all the characters playing to their various strengths. Except for Green Arrow, he seems to have copt it before the action even started.




They also released some motion comics at the same time as the games release, which are here,










Sunday, 19 June 2011

Wizard's Ultimate DCU

A couple of years back, Wizard Magazine commissioned a series of pictures of what would a DC version of the Ultimate Universe be like. Since we're in the Year of the Reboot, I thought that I'd post 'em so that you lot could have a looksee.

Superman - This one I'm a bit more blaise about. The use of the Kingdom Come "S" Symbol is interesting and invokes a futuristic feel to the rest of the outfit, which is kind of apt for "the Man of Tomorrow". Like it more than the ACTUAL DC reboot version, though that's just me. Probably wouldn't read this as a series though, as reading yet another Superman origin story would bore the pants off of me. Just jump straight into his early career just after his introduction if need be.

The Flash - I think that this one actually works, possibly because at the speeds he runs he'd presumably get a lot of bugs in his eyes and mouth... Nah, he's probably bugproof because of the Speed Force or something. And why not, it does everything else they can't explain the Flash books.

Green Lantern - to be absolutely honest, I'm very much a John Stewart fan when it comes to my Green Lanterns, probably because my love of JLU and the DCU to be honest. IF he had been Earth's only Green Lantern I'd have been cool with it, as most of the time he has the maturity and focus to actual sell the character without devolving into Hal Jordan. Seriously, if John was the star of the movie it might have actually made some money.


Batman - this one I really like. Has the essentials of the costume, but adds additional armour and rivets to actually make it look like it could stop the frequent gunfire that accompanies Bruce's nightjob. I also like the little details like the holster for his grappling gun, which makes for a more logical accessory to the belt than the current method, which I believe involve Bruce clenching it between his buttocks when he's not using it. Commissioner Gordon as Morgan Freeman is a nice touch, possibly a reference to Samuel L. Jackson being cast as Nick Fury over in the U.M., and since this was made YEARS before Batman Begins Mr Freeman being attached to the Bat Franchise here is just a coincidence. Heh, and I just realised that if he were the Commissioner than that would technically mean that would be the only appearance of an African American version of Batgirl as well, which would have been interesting to see.

And now the groups!

First the Teen Titans. I like Cyborg's design, it's a lot more streamlined than the current one, which seems as graceful as a Cyberman a lot of the time. I also like that he has more of his face exposed, which makes him seem more human whilst the loss of the fleshy sections on the arms paradoxically makes him seem more machine-like.

GothRaven I guess looks sort of interesting, though it depends massively how they were going to portray the character in the series. A girl who was raised in another dimension by monks or something would be less included to dress like that than a girl from this universe who had her powers and parentage suddenly thrust upon her for example.

Aqualad... well, he's shiny. I'll give him that. I do get a royal vibe from him, though I'm not really that up with the costume to be honest. It could work I guess, the fishscales incorpered into his trousers is interesting.

Robin's outfit...kind of works... I guess? There seem to be several elements in there that seem to have been used in later Robin designs, the mask looks like the lower half of Tim's Red Robin cowl for example, and I guess that it works as a balance to the above Batman picture but... Just seems a little off.

Donna, no. No, no, no. Nooo. I get that presumably she's meant to be filling in Starfire's role as "the sexy one", but this is just BAD. And the boots look stupid.

Roy pretty much looks exactly the same as Olle does in the comics. It's a good outfit, but it's kind of weird seeing him in green.

Firstly, the JLA in silhouette,

Andnow fighting Despero,

Alright, Bruce, Clark, Barry(?) I've covered, now the rest.

Wonder Woman: Not a fan, fails for the same reasons that Donna's does in the one above, in that because she's "the Sexy One" she's give the most revealling costume. Admittedly being Wonder Woman she technically doesn't need to wear armour as she's been submerged in molten metal before and come out unharmed, but it doesn't really scream "representative of an ancient culture and member of its Royal Family". Being able to see her butt every time there's a slight breeze would also make her loose cred with the diplomatic community. I guess that in story she could fill the role that Thor did in the first two series of the Ultimates, with no one believing her stories of being an Amazon created from clay and given life by the Gods, which would be an interesting slant in her story, I think.

The Atom: the costume looks good, and I am intrigued by this African American female Atom. Who is she? If she's the Atom does this mean that Ray Palmer hopefully doesn't exist? Would they end up pairing her up with John just because she's the only other black person in the group, which is something I've seen before in fiction and I think that it's stupid.

The Martian Manhunter: J'onn seems to be riffing ET in his appearance here, which I think is interesting for a number of reasons. Him being kind of squat is an interesting deviation from the normal human-sized and shaped version, or the version where he's taller and more willowy than a human being. Him being kind of short and dumpy could be translated as him being effected by Earth having greater gravity than Mars... I think, which would in theory be why he's in the control-room instead of fighting Destro.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

DC Outlines their New Direction in their Upcoming Movies

Over at the LA Times, the chief of DC Comics' parent company, Warner Bros, has outlined their plan for the upcoming movies, based on their characters.

This includes what they're going to do with Batman after Nolan leaves after his next Batman movie, as well as the new plans for a JLA movie.

I guess that it's possible that with Christopher Nolan's retirement from the franchise, or at least moving into a producing role with the next one, they might be aiming to make the Batman movies once again more akin to the one in the comics... which could be good and bad for a number of reasons.

It could be good because they could some of the features from the comics that would be a little silly in the Nolanverse. Like Harley Quinn or example. Or Mr Freeze.

But on the other hand, the last time they decided to reboot the movies prior to Batman Begins was when the execs decided that Tim Burton's Batman was too dark and murderous for a character they wanted to market to kids, so they decided to retool the franchise. They also let Burton stay on as a producer.


But the Movie they ended up with was Batman Forever, so...

Either way, it's something to look out for. Especially if they're going to make Batman so that he could fit in the same Universe as the rebooted Superman, Green Lantern and Flash movies, which could actually be kind of awesome.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/03/29/justice-league-the-movie-warner-chief-sets-sights-on-team-up-film-and-reinventing-batman/