Nathan's Movie Reviews

 Absolute Batman By Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta      Well... this was something. Batman by far has the most exposure the largest number of comics and media made about him. So many comic issues either being main continuity titles or even different universes that reimagine the Dark Knight in new and challenging ways. Even Scott Snyder got to reimagine Batman in his legendary New 52 Batman run with Greg Capullo. So seeing a new out of continuity fresh take on Batman did not make me excited as that is DC's favorite things to publish since Batman prints money. I knew that Scott Snyder was a good writer but I haven't really liked any of his other Batman stories since his New 52 run. So is Absolute Batman worth the hype and excitement its gotten? I would say yes. I will say that Absolute Batman might not stand out as much as Absolute Wonder Woman because Batman gets so many cool Batman compared to Wonder Woman. That being said it is still a very good book.     ...

 DC's Absolute Line: Is it Worth the Hype?      It seems that in my absence from really seriously reading any new comics at all  that DC has created the Absolute line of titles which has seemed to take things by storm. It has created a sales juggernaut with titles like Absolute Batam and Absolute Wonder Woman bringing in new legions of fans and getting people genuinely excited about the state of current DC comics which hadn't really happened since DC Rebirth almost a decade ago in 2016. So as someone who has a tangential understanding of them and how the characters are different from their main universe counterparts I want to ask the question... are these new absolute takes on classic characters really shaking things up? Or are these just slightly different and edgier takes on the characters? I want to find out. So, I plan on reading all the current issues that are out for each of the titles. So thats 14 issues of Absolute Batman and Wonder Woman, 13 of Absolute...

  The Tom King Retrospective/ Why I'm Largely Done With Comics      Superhero comics have always meant a lot to me. I'll never forget finding some DC and Marvel trade paperbacks at my local library and falling in love. I had seen the heroes on tv in some of the best cartoon shows of all time, but the world of comics was something else entirely. I have been collecting comics since 2014 and I have done deep dives and discovered so many great stories, characters  and creators. 10 years on though and I feel very different about it. I don't have any drive or passion for comics or for any comics that are coming out right now. This could be just burn out that can come when one naturally overdoes a hobby, but if feels like something more. I feel that I have read almost everything that I wanted to in the field of mainstream American superhero comics. After almost 10 years of collecting I'm throwing in the towel and cutting way back. I am still reading some every now and ...

  Tom King      I read a lot of comics and have a lot of favorite writers and artists. I even have some creators that I don't care for. Without a doubt one of the more recent examples is Tom King. He started writing independent series at Vertigo like Sheriff of Babylon, but he really exploded onto the scene after writing the 12 issue maxi series Vision at Marvel. From there he went to DC to work on Batman, and lesser known characters like Mister Miracle and Adam Strange.      My familiarity with Tom's work was down to hearing about how awful his Batman run was. I have not read any of the 85 issues he wrote for the character, but I think that he had some interesting ideas for the character that ultimately fell apart in execution. Something that I would could say the same thing for his 12 issues on Mister Miracle, which I have read all of. There are a lot of great character ideas and storytelling devices in that series to explore the troubled trauma of M...

  Batman 3-D (1990) Written and Drawn by John Byrne        The 1990’s was a distressing time for comics. The rise of the young Image artists with their aggressively grim and dark characters like Spawn and Youngblood. Marvel struggling to stay relevant with a ridiculous assortment of gimmicks, such as holographic and glow in the dark covers, while most of their best talent quietly left for rival DC Comics. The worst was by far DC, who took part in the gimmickry and was still being outsold by both Marvel and Image. The big 2 had become the big 3 with DC taking home the bronze. This is one of those gimmicks.     I would describe the story but there really isn’t much of one. A simple murder mystery with the Joker, Penguin, Two Face and the Riddler as the suspects. Nothing that hasn’t been done a million times before and in a lot of cases it was done better. The book also has Batman pin ups by some of the best artists of the time, and a classic 1940s B...

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) Directors: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski Starring: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delaney, and Mark Hamill Rated PG         Runtime 1hr 16 min     Well, it’s official. As of 2019 Batman is 80 years old, being created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in the late 1930s. So, the challenge this momentous occasion set before me was how to celebrate it. I could have created a clickbait top 10 list of the best Batman comics, films or even video games. But all of these have been done to death already, and Batman deserved something better. Eventually, I stumbled on to the idea of reviewing the Bat flick that first sparked what would become a burgeoning passion for this character and his world. No, it’s not Tim Burton’s first Batman movie, or even any of the Christopher Nolan movies (although I love them all and will talk about each of them in time.) It’s actually an underrated animated classic called Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,...