Comic Musings – Page 4

No, I Did Not Watch Deadpool & Wolverine

I’ve been busy prepping for the road trip. Hell, by the time you’re reading this post, I’m probably long gone by now.

I liked the Deadpool movies just fine. They’re funny stuff and Ryan Reynolds pretty much owns the role to the point where I tried to play the ol’ Deadpool game from a decade ago (has it really been that long?) and hearing some other dude voice the character – as good as he was – simply felt wrong because he wasn’t Ryan Reynolds. It’s almost like having someone else besides Cal Dodd or Hugh Jackman play Wolverine feel wrong, no matter how good they try to play the role. You simply couldn’t imagine anyone else doing the role justice.

That in mind, there’s a possibility that I might see it down the line. If not in theaters, then wait until it hits home video like I did the other Deadpool movies. That way, when my phone rings, I can pause the fucking movie and answer said phone… or take a fucking piss… which is more likely than answering the phone because it’s eternally set to Do Not Disturb, which is most of the time.

I hear it did well, so good for them, I suppose.

Across The Grid: The Other PR Comic Written By PR Actors

Source: https://morphinlegacy.com/2024/07/power-rangers-across-the-morphin-grid-1-announced/

So BOOM! Studios announced a one-shot Power Rangers comic called Across The Grid, which will be an anthology of stories written by various Power Rangers actors, including David Yost, Walter Jones, Steve Cardenas, Nakia Burrise, and Meghan Camarena (the Strawburry person of Hyperforce fame.) The issue will see release in late-October and who knows? Maybe if it goes well, it could invite other actors to come in and share their own stories if they have any to share.

Now that I think about it, considering David Yost is one of the contributors to this thing, what are the odds he decides to take his Quantum Continuum thing and turn it into a comic book series? I know some would prefer it to be a television project, but honestly, you could do so much more with the comic book medium and not have to worry about budgetary limitations or the like. Amy Jo Johnson proved such a thing is possible and can turn out great. Maybe Yost could consider the same avenue?

For what it’s worth, I’ve read the two scripts that he put out… I have no qualms about saying that it’s not my sort of story, but there is some potential for a compelling series here should he want to develop it further. All I’m saying is that if TV isn’t a viable option, then maybe consider the comic route because I feel it might work best there.

Cold Ronda’s Writing A Comic… No Thanks.

Source: https://www.wrestleview.com/wwe-news/319519-ronda-rousey-announces-new-graphic-novel-project-expecting-the-unexpected/

Former UFC and WWE Diva Ronda Rousey announced that she’s doing a graphic novel about a hired gun who pretends to be knocked up, only to eventually be knocked up and pregnant. And of course, said hired gun is modeled after Ronda herself, because of course it is.

While I’m sure that this is going to be on par with the Kevin Nash comic book from ages ago, I have no interest in giving this comic a look. Anything that actually involved giving Cold Ronda any of my money so she can start talking shit about people who thinks she sucks and use the “if it were a guy, you wouldn’t say it sucked” argument… which doesn’t work here because I compared her would-be project to the Nash comic, which was also wildly imaginative and shit… and that’s being generous.

Best of luck to her on the project, hope it works out for her, but… no buys for me. Sorry.

No, I Did Not See The Acolyte.

Someone had asked if I had watched The Acolyte.

The answer is no.

For anyone wondering why I’m talking about, The Acolyte is the latest Star Wars television miniseries streaming on Disney+. That is about the extent of my knowledge regarding the series other than it exists and it involves Jedi.

I haven’t had an active Disney+ subscription since the Doctor Who specials with David Tennant ended. I haven’t been inclined so much to stick around afterwards, which means that I haven’t sampled the new series with Ncuti Gatwa. The most I’ve seen are clips here and there… and for what it’s worth, Gatwa does a great Doctor. And his chemistry with Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday is adorable. Maybe someday, I’ll give that a proper look.

Thing is I’m not wasting money on a Disney+ subscription for just one series. I haven’t seen a Star Wars series since Obi-Wan Kenobi (which was okay at best). I gave up on Marvel after the last Dr. Strange movie and their decision to go ahead with this multiverse stuff, which I’m fed up with. I’m not particularly inclined with any of the new stuff coming from either of those franchises. Nothing I’ve seen or heard has been excited to jump on those bandwagons again and even if there was something, that excitement would be replaced with a sense of dread in wondering how they were going to fuck up said thing I was excited for.

Listen, I’ve got enough Star Wars at home to keep me busy if I need to scratch that itch. I’ve got movies, books, comics, video games, and soundtracks to fulfill my need and get some enjoyment out of. Whatever else comes afterwards is best left to the next generation or so to consume. And once Endgame came and went, I more than fulfilled my Marvel palette and moved on to something else. Again, I’ve got DVDs and things of the old movies to revisit and some of that stuff still holds up. When it comes to those franchises, I’ve got stuff that I enjoy to revisit and cherish while everything that came afterwards… I can pretty much forgo and let others enjoy.

It’s not a matter of hating these franchises; that’s a stupid presumption to think that I suddenly hate these things. If there’s a Star Wars thing that piques my interest, I’ll check it out. If there’s a Marvel thing that piques my interest, I’ll check it out. This isn’t a new thing. It’s always been like this. There’s a bunch of Expanded Universe stuff from the old days that I skipped out on because I didn’t care. Likewise, there’s probably a couple Marvel movies pre-Endgame that I still haven’t seen nor am I in any rush to see them. They simply didn’t interest me. Maybe that’ll change… or maybe it won’t. It’s just a matter of “Okay, that was a thing. Let’s do something else.”

So, no, I’m not watching the Acolyte. I’m not interested in it. Doesn’t mean that I won’t. Just means that I’m not.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to Dark Forces.

The Return Is In The Can…

For anyone curious parties out there, the final issue of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return – the four-issue miniseries penned by OG Pinky Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson – recently came out and concluded that run. And yes, I did read the series… and I have mixed feelings on it.

I’m going to save my thoughts on the whole deal for a later time, but I will say this. The Return is probably one of the better Power Rangers comic projects that I’ve read in a good long while – I’d go so far to say that it might be the best of the bunch. An alternate take on the original team thirty years later that is not tied to any continuity or canon, so it is totally self-contained and requires only the most cursory familiarity with the Power Rangers lore. The characters are well written and true to form, the artwork is tremendous and captures the look and feel of the show it’s based upon, but obviously updated to the present day, and most of all, it’s just a really good story that feels like a genuine, mature take on the material that doesn’t feel too grim and gritty for the sake of feeling grim and gritty.

Do I have issues with The Return? A few, but none that detract from my overall enjoyment of the series. It did leave me with some unanswered questions and there are a couple moments that had me shaking my head, wondering why they’d go in that direction unless… well, I’m saying more than I should.

Like I said, I have mixed feelings on this thing… but on a whole, I enjoyed The Return. Is it a better anniversary celebration than Once And Always? I’m not sure that’s a fair question as both do their own thing and are different enough to be distinct. If you’re going to read one Power Rangers comic series, make it this one. It’s totally worth checking out.

NFOMO

No fear of missing out on these programs on the Disney+ app that I’m not subscribed to. I’m sure there’s a minute part of me that regrets having subscribed to Paramount+ instead, but at the very least, I’m getting what may very well be the best season of Discovery yet.

(I say this based entirely on the fact that the show hasn’t turned me off and the overarching storyline is at least somewhat interesting. And while I do consider this to be the best of Discovery’s five seasons, it’s still Discovery when all is said and done and thus there are lots of Discovery tropes that annoy me, but I can willfully put up with to see this season through.)

In any event, I’ve had a couple people (for some reason) wonder about the new Doctor Who as well as the X-Men 97 series that supposedly serves as a continuation of the original 90s X-Men cartoon… and I can answer both with the same answer.

I have not seen them.

With Doctor Who, I wasn’t even aware that the season had started, so chances are I may have to give it a watch when I have the chance. As far as X-Men 97 is concerned, that is simply due to a lack of interest. Mostly because I only saw the first couple seasons of X-Men when it first aired, enjoyed it for the most part, and then gave up on it once Power Rangers became the thing to watch… and also, Batman: The Animated Series was also a thing… and also Spider-Man… and eventually, Superman… and… you get the idea.

Hell, I hadn’t even watched anything from the last couple seasons of the show until a few years afterwards, where I had noticed a drastic drop in the overall quality of the animation and it seemed to have suffered from the Captain Planet syndrome of cheap-as-shit animation in the latter years of its run. That said, I have been keeping up with the plot threads going on in that show and given the direction that it took several characters and some of the stories that it’s been aping as of late, let’s just say that I’m in no hurry to get back on that particular bandwagon anytime soon.

Yes… I Actually Saw The Flash…

So my brother and I went to see the Flash… he wanted to go, asked if I was interested, and I said… “sure.” Even though I said, I had no real incentive to go myself, I did say that unless there was a get-together and someone else was footing the bill, I’d consider it. So… listen, I gave him a live concert playing Jedi that cost a hell of a lot more than tickets to a movie screening. Although I will consider that the Jedi thing was money well spent, while the movie… I guess we could talk about it.

Continue reading “Yes… I Actually Saw The Flash…”

BOOM Studios Changing The MMPR Comics Game Again… again…

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but BOOM Studios is doing another major arc in their long-running Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book. And when all is said and done, things will never be the same again.

Again.

It seems like every time I write about the current line of Power Rangers comics, there’s almost always a negative slant towards it. I often wonder why I’m devoting much thought to a series that I do not actively follow or pay much attention to. Every once in a while, somebody asks my thoughts on the current comic and my only reply is to say that I don’t read ’em. Outside of the occasional graphic novel – which tend to be hit or miss – I largely ignore a series that left me with a sour taste.

For those wondering, I was on board with the series when it first started up back in 2016 and I thought, for the most part, it was promising enough. A new take on the original Mighty Morphin series, slightly reconfigured to fit in with modern times (but is still in line with the original continuity – or so they say…), and certainly the writing was a step above the Power Ranger comics that had come before, which were largely simplistic and sometimes inconsistent with the material it was adapting.

About eight or nine issues in, we’re dealing with alternate universes and evil versions of characters. Next thing you know, the focus is more on original characters that feel like they were pulled from the worst dreggs of the fanfic litter and less on the title characters – even then, it’s mostly on the Tommy worship because the guy who writes this stuff is good buds with JDF and that’s as far as I’ll go. Then Shattered Grid became a thing; the less said the better. And then we’ve digressed from the OG Rangers to this hodgepodge crossover group taking place in some alternate dimension and that’s when I decided, “I’m out.”

I’ve tried giving the comic a few more tries… but it’s the same rubbish as before. Hey, we’ve jumped ahead to the second season and we did our Ranger swap… LET’S BRING BACK EVIL TOMMY FROM THE DARK DIMENSION. Fuck off. Then they split the series into two… Mighty Morphin kept things on Earth, while Power Rangers followed our Omega Rangers (aka – the other half od OG Rangers who didn’t go that peace conference after all.) We have another game-changing event leading to issue 100.

And now we have yet ANOTHER major comic event coming up posed to change the game once again… and as I’m checking the previews for these things, I wonder whether they’re going to be upfront about this being its own thing rather than try to gaslight everyone into thinking that this is perfectly in line with the TV show canon, which is pretty fucking stupid at this point… because I fail to see how you’ve got this uber-Rita or Mister Vile or whatever she’s called having unlimited power, but she eventually gets defeated and her plot for revenge is having Zedd fall in love with her and marry her?

Like I’ve said, I tried… TRIED to give it another shot, because they got a new writer on board and I’m sure she’s talented and all, but I’ve read a couple issues and I don’t know what new thing she brings to the table. It’s a variation of what I’ve seen before. New threat on the table, more focus on the uninteresting OG characters than the people that this comic is supposed to be about, Drakkon is a thing once again, more shit about the multiverse, who else can we turn into a Ranger and whip up some shit design?

Is it really sad that the only Power Rangers comic that I’m looking forward to is the one that Pinky is writing up? And I’m waiting a whole year for that… and, by the way, if that thing ends up sucking, don’t think I’m going to shy away from that… but yeah, this current crop of Power Ranger comics… happy to see it still going, happy that it’s got a fanbase to support it, but I don’t care for it myself… do I really need to go back to the fanfic well for my PR fix until Cosmic Fury hits? Do I have to do this shit myself even? Let’s hope not…

Don’t get me started on Lord Zedd was done dirty post Z-wave. It’s embarrassing to even contemplate.

No Amount Of Memberberries Can Make Me Care About This Flash(point) Movie

The Flash movie is a little over a month away from being released… and I am not excited about it.

I’ve already talked a bit about the second trailer that came out a couple weeks ago over at the DTM-Cast – it’s practically the last 5-10 minutes of the program – but I will re-iterate what I said there here. I’m kinda stoked that they somehow managed to convince Michael Keaton to do one last run as Batman and while him being copiously CG’ed doesn’t instill much inspiration, I would be totally down with seeing the dude come back into the fold. Clearly, I’m not the only one; a lot of people are excited over this.

So they brought back Michael Keaton to the Batcave… and this – this – is the fucking movie they decide to put him in.

Forget all the shit that’s going on with Ezra Miller in real life that’s apparently being glossed over because he/she/they/it/shit/whatever scores points on that diversity checklist that protects you from punishment for being an all-around horrible human being. I was never a fan of Miller’s take on the character; I find his/her/their/its/shits/whatevers take on Barry Allen to be annoying as fuck and not in an endearing way. Not even the almighty Snyder Cut did much to fix the issues that I had with this jabron, so to have an entire movie focused on this version of Barry Allen was already raising several red flags.

And then you add in another version being played by the same actor… fuck me, I would’ve been happier if it had been Grant Gustin doing a different version of Barry that isn’t whatever he does on the CW show… or maybe bring back John Wesley Shipp as 90s Flash; fuck that Crisis crossover because I don’t count that shit. Hell, I’ll even take the guy who played the Flash in that shitty Justice League pilot that never made air!

(Fun fact: The Justice League pilot film features a character called Fire, who was played by Michelle Hurd, who is probably better known these days for playing that Raffi person in Star Trek: Picard. The more you know, I guess.)

But on top of all of that, the premise of your one Flash movie that you’ve been trying to turn into a thing for a good long while… is based on the comic book event called Flashpoint, where Barry goes back in time to save his mom from dying and that results in the timeline getting fucked up. And now he has to assemble a team together to go and fix his fuck-ups.

For the record, I’ve never been a fan of Flashpoint; I’ve said as much in the past. So for a whole movie to be based on that is even more a red flag.

But the sad thing is that we’re not even doing the actual Flashpoint story here. Michael Keaton is playing Bruce Wayne, not Thomas Wayne as was the case in the comic. And the big cataclysmic event taking place in this movie seems to be a retread of Man of Steel – except now instead of a Superman, we now have a Supergirl… or a Superwoman… or something? We got a new Super person who probably would’ve been better off wearing Henry Cavill’s old costume instead of the cheap costume they stuck her in. I mean, seriously, this looks something you’d get off AlieExpress for twenty bucks. It’s that bad looking and a surprising oversight from a studio who is usually more careful in how to present these characters.

Also, this thing is dealing with multiverses, isn’t it?

Apparently, James Gunn – the fellow overseeing the DC Universe creative direction going forward – says this is going to change everything. I wonder if this was always the case or something he pulled out of his ass to justify this thing’s existence. And I’m not railing on James Gunn – he produced a couple entertaining films with his Guardians movies and his take on the Suicide Squad. So I want to think he did what he could to make this fit in with the rest of his plans for the DC film stuff.

If only he could have done the same for Shazam 2… hell, Aquaman’s sequel is supposed to be coming up. Does that fit into the grand scheme of things or is it a case where they have to release this in order to recoup the money spent on this thing? Oh wait, Amber Heard’s in that one, too, isn’t she? That’s another one with some issues that are seemingly glossed over, aren’t they?

And people give wrestling fans shit for enjoying people with spotty reputations.

Look, for those who are looking forward to this thing, more power to toy. I hope when this thing comes out, it turns out to your liking and you enjoy the show. But as for me… yeah, unless there’s a get-together and somebody else is footing the bill… I’m gonna pass on this one. Thanks but no thanks.

Same Shit, Different Writer…

I picked up a copy of the latest issue of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book from Boom Studios. I was a little late to the game, but apparently they’re in the middle of a major ground-breaking, history-defining storyline.

Again.

Let me guess; new take on an old villain, so let’s make a pre-existing character into a new Ranger form, take our old Rangers on an interstellar journey, and then for shits and giggles, let’s bring back that Drakkon character.

Sure enough, that’s what I got in this particular issue.

Apparently, this series has a new writer – Melissa Flores. I don’t know if she did any prior Power Rangers comic stuff in the past – as in, I genuinely don’t know because I haven’t bothered to check – but if her aim was to simply regurgitate what was produced by the previous two writers of this series, then mission accomplished.

People keep telling me that this stuff is better than it was before… but I just see the same shit that drove me away from this stuff in the first place. There isn’t anything that I’ve seen here that I probably haven’t read in someone’s fanfic years ago. Hell, there’s a couple story bits that were even conceived when I was writing fanfics years ago… and some of that stuff hasn’t even seen the light of day.

I’ll give Boom some credit; I’ve enjoyed a couple of their one-shots from their Power Rangers Unlimited line-up and graphic novels. Those are good, quick reads. Hell, I even enjoyed Kyle Higgins’ Tommy-centric one-shot, Soul Of The Dragon, and gave it a hearty reviews – even if I kept messing up the name of the title.

But as far as the mainline comic series is concerned, I’m sorry, but it’s still no buys for me. Maybe the Pinky-penned series coming out next year might change my tune, but for now… morphin time is some other time in some other place.