Donomark

❤️❤️❤️ Can definitively say it was the grandest birthday morning I can remember! Thanks everyone!

Magnificent Ms. Marvel #2: Solid Spider-Man: Life Story #2: Awesome. Zdarsky is a born Spidey writer. Single Issues: 158 Trade Paperbacks: 3

Miracleman #1-#16: by Alan Moore, Rick Vietch, Alan Davis John Totleben and Garry Leach For whatever reason, I'd always viewed Miracleman (Marvelman) as "foreign comics" considering they never initially printed in America. I dunno what I was expecting, because it's definitely Alan Moore writing, that's for damn sure. I need to find a new reference, but Moore's run reminds me on Evangelion. Everything starts out both familiar and subversive, but working its way around a science fiction/superhero plot. The first four issues tending with Kid Miracleman I found more interesting than the retconny sci-fi origin. The marital problems between Moran and Liz were interesting (issue #9 hit me like a smack in the face. I think I'd read about that before but certainly wasn't expecting it). But Moore's skills as a storyteller grow with each issue, and by the return of Kid Miracleman I found myself completely hooked. I would argue that this is the darkest, starkest story Moore's ever told, with nothing held back and everything being greater for it. John Totleben is the artist by this point, and his depiction of carnage and superhero action is absolutely stunning. More abstract, fiery brushstrokes than penciled illustration. The follow-up issue where Moore ends his run the only way it could was simply perfect. I bipped and bobbed a bit into Neil Gaiman's issues, but I thought Moore's run worked fine as the end of the series. A lot of Miracleman can be found in Dr. Manhattan later on, but it was different enough to be familiar not not repetitive. The idea of a godlike superhero inacting maximum, page-one change onto the world seems like the only real story to tell if you're going to go there. Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish. This is adult storytelling at its best. Batman #69 (2019): Yawn Single Issues: 156 Trade Paperbacks: 3

Love, Simon: Been meaning to check this out for forever, as well as the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda. I was a little weary of the poster which looked to implied a goofy comedy, but I totally loved this. It was effortlessly sincere and all the characters were realistic. The ending was spoiled for be about a year ago in knowing that Keiynon Lonsdale was in it and the extent to his part, but I still welled up in the third act. Great film.

This is a nifty tool to spoiler-proof websites

Batman the Movie: Noticed for the first time that Bruce Wayne drinks milk in a wine glass when he's out on the town with "Kitka".

^You can do that? Great idea, I'll do it too.

Commando and Street Fighter, and also I've not seen the others

Being several years older than college students is too weird.

Had quite a bit of fun with it, but the make or break moment was in the mid-credits teaser

The Immortal Hulk #16: Great as always Amazing Spider-Man #18.HU: I've always had the tiniest soft spot for the Gibbon, going back to when I first read him in the Essentials. So while this wasn't the most original one-shot issue, the story affected me the way it intended. Very strong, very sad. Batman: Troika: A four part storyline post-Prodigal, this is included in the new Knightfall collection...for some reason. There are scant references to Jean Paul Valley, but otherwise I don't see the immediate need to include this in the trade dress. That being said, it's classic 90s Batman at its finest. Great art, great action, Bruce and Tim working together. Very fun little story. The new collection also includes Nightwing: Alfred's Return and Vengenace of Bane II. Single Issues: 151 Trade Paperbacks: 4

Harlem Nights: Written, Directed and Starring Eddie Murphy, with Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. This was clearly Eddie Murphy's fan-fiction about Black Hollywood Elegance in the time of the Great Depression era films, working alongside his heroes. As a comedy, it's hardly funny. There's one big scene involving Arsenio Hall and Miguel Nunez Jr. that's pretty good, but otherwise the pacing is far too rested and some scenes good on criminally long. On the plus side, I'll watch Jasmine Guy in anything. Even if she's got nothing to do here, she looks totally in her element. And Eddie Murphy is plainly a very good actor. I can just watch him act seriously without any yearning for gags. And he and Pryor have great chemistry. I don't know if their scenes are worth the price of admission, but they are the best parts of the film. The costumes and wardrobes are all wonderful to watch as well. This movie also has probably the worst pre-The Phantom tagline ever: "They're up to something big."

...Yeahhh, that looks pretty cool. I'd say it's the first cool trailer of 2019. I hope the filmmakers are smart enough not to get us rooting for an eventual mass murderer (even if he isn't real), but I cannot say this doesn't look intriguing.

Detective Comics #422-#424, #486-#493, #513, #518-#546, Batman #346, #349, #352, #355, #365-#366, DC Comics Presents #86, Infinity Inc. #22, Crisis on Infinite Earths #4, #7 and #12, Secret Origins #20, The Batgirl Special #1 (1988): The Barbara Gordon Reading Project Concluded. Went back and clocked a majority of Barbara's appearances from the storyline in her Detective Comics backups when she ran for Congress to when she lost for re-election and the aftermath. It's a fascinating history for the character than can sequentially be documented month by month and with many more issues checking all of her appearances on the Batgirl to Oracle: Barbara Gordon Podcast. To begin, Barbara is spurred into running for Congress after a former boyfriend - turned - crook gets out on parole, only to try and grift her into committing another crime. She's so disillusioned that she takes up the ticket being pushed onto her father, (who at this point it's revealed he'd previously figured out her secret identity) running to "boot out" the lobbyists and fat cats in Washington. Issues of voter intimidation, voter fraud and having new, young voices for representation really bring AOC to mind when reading this in 2019. But after three issues, she wins and moves to Washington in a story titled "Batgirl's Last Case". She didn't appear in a Batman title for over three years, making only three appearances in Superman and Superman Family (Bruce tried to set her up with Clark Kent). After not appearing for three years she regularly teams up with Robin in the pages of Batman Family, before those adventures were shunted off back into Detective Comics when Batman Family got cancelled during the DC Explosion and subsequent implosion of the 1970s. Years later in 1980, she loses re-election and moves back to Gotham. Here's where things start to go south. In 'Tec #490, Batgirl and Robin encounter a criminal with a brainwashing device, and Batgirl temporarily loses her memory. By the story's end, it's implied that she doesn't regain her knowledge of Batman and Robins IDs, which rightfully pissed fans off. This was an era where Jimmy Olsen knew Batman's ID, but a train of conversation about Batgirl not needing to know who they were after she'd deduced it on her own seemed to be editorially mandated. Then in #491, she's nearly killed by a hitman who strikes fear in her spirit, almost making her quit out of fear of her own life. Talk of her never taking the job seriously and not knowing the danger of a crime fighter read as pretty fucking hollow considering she'd been around for a decade fighting the worst Gotham had to offer. This is a character who was actively made to be more of a realistic woman than the Bette Kane Bat-Girl, who the lack of appearances leading to the lack of belief in her as a character doesn't wash. She continues to have solo backups in Detective Comics, but in the pages of Batman, Gerry Conway and Don Newton's run consistently use her as a supporting character to her father, never appearing in costume and relegated to his troubles getting kicked off the force by Mayor Hamilton Hill. The one exception is in 'Tec #526 "All my Enemies Against Me", a big blowout anniversary issue that sees the deaths of Jason Todd's acrobat parents at the hands of Killer Croc. In this issue, she re-reveals to Dick that she still knows he and Bruce are B&R, "It seemed important to you two that I not know", and forcibly gets him into action. It's a pretty great appearance, and the last one. Contrary to popular belief, Batgirl does not appear for two years, only in some pages as Babs Gordon, and even then there are stories where she doesn't have any dialogue. Her next appearance, during Crisis on Infinite Earths, she tells Supergirl how useless she feels in the wake of Armageddon and in the company of super powered heroes. The theme of her worthlessness sticks with her for the remainder of her career. After the Crisis she disappears for another two years, before getting a set-up story/new origin by Barbara Randall which changes her parentage to Jim Gordon being her father's brother (this was done to reconcile with Batman Year One, where Miller wanted the baby to be Barbara but DC said that would make Batman too old, hence the retcon). Her final appearance before the Killing Joke is in Batgirl Special #1, which was mandated as Editor Denny O'Neil was getting the TKJ pages in from the Alan Moore. Seeing the writing on the wall, he commissioned Randall to write a final (for real this time) adventure where Batgirl goes up against the Commorant, the assassin who nearly killed her back in 'Tec #491. It's a depressing story, riddled with scenes of Barbara feeling useless (including the only time she was ever on the same page as Nightwing, seeing him and Jason Todd-Robin beat some muggers from afar). She barely defeats the Commorant, telling her bestie that maybe other girls will fill her boots in the future and she might even want to help out the heroes without their knowledge. It's a neat bit of foreshadowing, but totally coincidental. DC had zero plans to use Babs after The Killing Joke, and it should never be forgotten that the character wouldn've mired in limbo had it not been for Kim Yale and John Ostrander turning her into Oracle a couple of years later. Single Issues: 149 Trade Paperbacks: 3

Just like the live action shows...B&S are reserved only for animation

Damn, was Ollie and Dinah endgame all along? But that show hates that couple...

Batman Forever: Saving my complete thoughts for an upcoming thing which may or may not involve Britain's Favorite Son, but that being said there's way more good things about this movie than bad. It's a few drafts away from being really good, some of the arcs aren't finished and they cheat to reach the finish line. But you can't not enjoy Jim Carrey's performance, and Val Kilmer portrayed the truest Batman to date in that decade. Out of the four, this is the one film that actively gave a damn about its central character, and it works partly because of it.

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan: Wonderfully entertaining. The first time I've really ever been invested in Captain Kirk. All the performances are great, even if they're over the top and cheesy.

I've always felt that way in the years I've been attending San Diego Comic-Con. The gender population is split right down the middle with no clear majority. Plenty of color diversity as far as the eye can see with increasingly public and diversely expressed sexual orientations. And plenty of people outside the age perimeters of 30s and 20s.

Detective Comics #1000: I really enjoyed this. None of the tryhard wannabe writing styles of the past couple decades are Batman are found here. Just a series of nice, celebratory stories that really honor the character. Some are better than others. Denny O'Neil straight up rips off his own issue (Detective Comics #457) wholesale in his story, and the Neal Adams/Chris Priest story left me with nothing much, but most everything else was fun. Snyder's story was fun, Kevin Smith's story was surprisingly good. Best Batman work he's ever done. Warren Ellis' story was cool, Bendis' story was neat. James Tynion IV's story about Dick Grayson was probably the best of the entire lot, and apparently he fought to use the original Robin suit for which he'll always have my respect because the new 52 Robin costume is crap. Tom King's story was about his usual: Good, not great but ultimately heartfelt. I'm glad in this day and age the fandom for the Bat-Family is being recognized more so we have a terrifically sweet moment for Bruce and his family. Overall, I can't think of a Batman-related centennial issue I've enjoyed more than this. Amazing Spider-Man #819: Decent issue. Not the best, but I'm looking forward to what the ending is leading up to. Heroes in Crisis #7: Same old crap. Single Issues: 97 Trade Paperbacks: 3

Emperor's New Groove was a lot of fun when I first saw it in theaters. It's probably the funniest Disney movie.

The trans thing was interesting to think on...I sincerely disbelieve that was ever a consideration in the film, but you never know..!

Thor 2 had more fun action with Mjolner, a great performance from Anthony Hopkins and all of the Loki scenes were either fun or dramatic. The rest is weak in how the Earth characters totally siphon off the extraterrestrial fun from the story (Kat Denning's boyfriend, Stellan Skarsgaard's stupid nudity tangent subplot), the lameness of Malekith (my brother, who's read Thor, says that character is closer to the Joker than the staid, straight-faced villain of the film) and the lack of proper anger from Thor in battling the guy who killed his mom. Ant-Man is an action comedy and doesn't pretend to be otherwise. Action comedies can have dramatic moments, like Ant-Man does, but there's a certainty of objective that Ant-Man achieves better than Captain Marvel. I liked Brie Larson in the role. I liked Jude Law. Lashanna Lynch gave the best performance in the film, but her best scene was bigging up Carol with shallow dialogue that has the audience feel "Yeah, I guess that's right" rather than fist-pumpingly agreeing with her. And that's the main problem. The movie is so concerned with making viewers fall in love with Carol that it doesn't actually finesse how to do that in the writing beyond Brie Larson's capabilities. It reminds me of how the producers of Justice League talked about using placeholder dialogue in their stories, and then never returning to iron out the scripts during season one, resulting in the episodes feeling incredibly bland and straight-laced. This movie needed at least two or three more drafts. Also, even knowing what was happening the second time, I think it's still a confusing film. Which isn't good for a character who's not a household name.

Saw Captain Marvel a second time with my brother. Had a long discussion on it afterwards. ...I think it's the MCU's weakest film. We went by each and every movie, and there was always something the others had over CM, whether it was tightness of themes, better script or compelling performances. CM isn't awful but it's really not very strong in comparison. Really suffers from the five writers and two directors with no cemented thematic core that personifies the film aside from the feminist politics which come off superficial at best and pandering at worst. I hate saying all of that.

I figure Steve just used his leverage. Just couple of minutes earlier, Spidey solo'd The Winter Solider, who at that point was repeatedly proven to be the big bad beast of the MCU. They got Spider-Man's strength level exactly right I thought.