Don't Call it a Comeback...

Happy New Year! It's 2018 Hooray! I am very happy to see 2017 behind us for many, many reasons. Reasons that I will certainly not get into here!

2017 did give us some great Comic Book Movies though as well as some great reading material! So for my returning post, I'm going to go over the best of 2017 in comics and movies!

2017 was a year of surprises for me at the theater. So let's start by naming all of the comic book movies and then I will rank them.

We had: Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight, Thor: Ragnorak, Justice League, and of course; Star Wars: Episode 8 The Last Jedi. Holy guacamole what a line up! So how did they all turn out? Here is my (shortened) analysis.

From Worst to Best of 2017: *Right away I want to make note that I did not see Transformers: The Last Knight (at least, not yet) and therefore will be disqualifying it from the ranking.*

7. Justice League - JL was the biggest disappointment of the year, and maybe the biggest disappointment of every comic book movie ever! Due to family problems, the original director had to leave the project more than halfway through production and a new director took over. Who then proceeded to re-shoot most of the movie, brighten it up with actual color, and return our favorite DC heroes to the daylight. All points that I agree with, but the execution was not great. After Marvel's The Avengers, The Justice League had HUGE shoes to fill and they didn't even come close. This movie should have been enormous and heralded as the GREATEST EVER, but it was severely lacking in many areas. I'm not blaming anyone involved with the project and I'm not happy about the outcome, but I do hope that Warner Brothers and DC Studios have learned from their mistakes and the movies going forward will better. Cause so far, DC, yo' shit is boring...

6. Spider-Man: Homecoming - I really enjoyed Spider-Man! I really did! Saw it twice in the theater and own it on Blu-Ray and watch it fairly often as well. So why is it second to worst on my list? Only because everything else that came out was better, in my opinion. It was great to see Spidey return home to Marvel and you can absolutely see the difference in the character between studios. That is, Sony's choices vs. Marvel's choices. I loved the Tobey McGuire movies, and also Andrew Garfield in Amazing Spider-Man 1 was terrific, but Tom Holland IS Peter Parker! He captured the innocence and sense of responsibility Spider-Man has perfectly. I loved that Marvel took him back to High School, avoided another origin movie, and also blended Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe seamlessly. I am very excited for the future of Marvel movies, and most specifically for Spidey's future film appearances.

5. Stars Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi - I'm still on the fence about how I absolutely feel about this movie. I thought I'd see it 2 or 3 times before the new year, but after the first viewing (plus the run time) I haven't done it yet. I'll put it this way; I loved the 3rd act of the movie. Loved, loved, loved it. The first 2/3 though... I'm not so sure. There were some bold choices made, and while I might not agree with the execution, I'm not upset with them. This was not a bad movie, at all. It was fun and quite enjoyable, but as a huge Star Wars fan and a someone with deep knowledge of most of the main characters, I felt like I was punched in the face and told that this wasn't for me anymore. I think I'm going to give this movie it's own post after I see it again, so stay tuned for that...

4. Wonder Woman - I absolutely loved this movie! Wonder Woman broke the mold (pun intended!) of the DC movie curse! She was one of the best parts of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and even better in her own feature length movie! After the disappointment of Justice League however, there might be some casting changes in the works. I just pray to the gods that they keep Gal Gadot. She is wonderful! Patty Jenkins is a kick ass director as well! So why isn't it any higher on the list? Well only because it's the same exact plot as Captain America: The First Avenger. It wasn't the same exact movie and I actually like WW more than the first Cap movie, but it felt too similar. What I loved most about this movie was how it made me feel afterward. I was excited and felt great, like I could take on anything. And then I saw how the movie affected little girls and it made me love the movie even more. I'm so glad girls have such a strong and good role model in a super hero movie now. It makes me excited for future female led Comic Book Movies like Captain Marvel.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - If you loved the first Guardians, then you'll most likely love this one too. It's a solid sequel that develops the characters a bit further, introduces new ones, deepens and evolves the emotional side of the main characters, has some kick ass action scenes, awesome soundtrack that is arguably better than the first one, and makes you laugh out loud throughout the entire movie! I saw so many parallels to The Empire Strikes Back that I plan on watching both movies back to back and writing a comparison post on it. No complaints about the similarities though, I mean, if you're gonna model your sequel off of a movie than you can't get much better than The Empire Strikes Back!

2. Thor: Ragnorak - simply awesome. Clearly the best of the 3 Thor movies and a fantastic side story to the overarching storyline of the MCU. Basically it's like a buddy movie with Thor and the Hulk and it's absolutely hilarious. Quite possibly the funniest Marvel movie to date. I'm disappointed that I only saw it once in the theater, but it came out around the time that 2017 was hitting peak shittiness for me, and so I couldn't make it more than once. No matter, Blu-Ray comes out pretty soon I think!!!

1. Logan - Not only is Logan the number 1 Comic Book Movie of 2017 for me, it's my new favorite Comic Book Movie of All-Time! This was a total surprise for me. If you know me at all, or have read any of my other Wolverine posts, you know that he is my favorite character ever and I know him down to his core. You would also know that before this movie, I had given up on the idea that Fox Studios could make a good Wolverine solo movie. I didn't even like him in the X-Men films (except for the first and second ones, especially X2)! This movie completely changed my mind at the same time as it redefined the entire CBM genre. Finally we got a CBM that wasn't just a straight up spectacle, but a heartfelt, visionary, and genre bending film. We still got the spectacle, but we also saw that a CBM doesn't just have to be super heroes fighting super villains. They can also be about a super hero in a different time period, or situation. For example, a few years back a movie called Cowboys and Aliens came out that could have been awesome. Instead it bombed and was awful. What I liked about the concept was that it introduced the idea that super powers (or science/alien gadgets) could be used in a genre movie like a Western. Logan was Shane or Unforgiven with adamantium claws. I absolutely LOVED this movie. It's taken a spot in my Top 5 Favorite Movies of All-Time.

Other movies not comic related that are worth seeing: Baby Driver - possibly the best movie I saw last year; The Big Sick - adorable and hilarious love story that everyone should see; Get Out - fantastic horror/thriller that made me very excited for future projects by Jordan Peele!

2017 brought us some really awesome Comic Books too! I won't get into these much though. Marvel introduced the beginning of the end of their All-New, All-Different titles with Marvel Legacy #1 which saw the return of one of their most beloved characters while keeping 2 alternate versions of him in their monthly rotation. We'll have to see how that works out. 2017 also pushed me over the edge with regards to buying comics. After my sever disappointment with Civil War 2, I swore off buying comics for awhile and specifically Marvel comics. I missed the Secret Empire event, even though I read/heard it was quite good, and avoided everything else until Legacy #1 was released.

But it was DC comics that got me back into buying monthlies. Specifically the Dark Knights Metal storyline and Doomsday Clock! Dark Knights Metal has been nothing short of fantastic. It introduces us to the Dark Multiverse, where everything terrible that could possibly happen, happens. A team of alternate-universe and "evil" Batmen are assembled and the real Batman of Earth Prime is their doorway to the "good" multiverse! There have only been 4 issues of the main story plus some side stories that have been a ton of fun too. Next issue is due out next month and I can't wait to see what happens.

DC also gave us Doomsday Clock. Part of my disappointment with Marvel Comics was in regards to a personal choice that I made. I chose to follow Civil War 2 rather than the crossover even DC was running and my decision came back to haunt me a whole bunch of times. I missed out on the Countdown to Doomsday Clock AND The OZ Effect. Both of which helped build toward the story that Doomsday Clock would tell. For those who aren't familiar with current comic story lines, Doomsday Clock is the story that introduces The Watchmen (a superhero team from, arguably, the greatest graphic novel ever written) to the DC Comics Universe. So characters like Batman and Superman will soon be interacting with Watchmen characters Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, and Ozymandias. If you haven't read Watchmen, I highly recommend it. Doomsday Clock #1 was released in November and is only 2 issues into a 12 issue run, so there is time to catch up.

Other reading recommendations: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was a book that I read in about 3 days. It's so much fun and will be a movie directed by Steven Spielberg this year. Definitely my #1 recommendation. Also check out Unworthy Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy (the short runs like Emperor Quill or the story where Agent Venom is introduced to the team (sorry can't remember the title right now), and also Marvel's Infinity. I LOVED Infinity! It's also what this year's Infinity War movie seems to be based on, so if you want a great read and a possibly glimpse at what Marvel is giving us for the big screen this year, be sure to check it out).

That's it for today. Lots of great stuff to check out from last year, and this year looks just as good! See ya next time!

HUGE GAME OF THRONES BOMB DROPPED!!!! ***SPOILERS***

Did you hear it? Cause I freaked the heck out! Ok, only keep reading if you're up to date on all the episodes of Game of Thrones...


So in last night's episode there is a scene between Sam and Gilly. Sam is transcribing old scrolls per his assignment from last week's episode while Gilly is enjoying her freshly aquired reading comprehension skills. She's finding random trivia points written by an old Septon from the Mad King's days.

At first it seems as if they're just silly things she's talking about, like how many steps there are at the Citadel in Old Town or how many windows there are in the Sept of Baelor ("None, anymore".) But then she asks Sam an innocent question... "What's an annulment?" she asks. "It's when a man sets aside his vows of marriage." Gilly goes on to say (in a super casual way that you might miss if you're not paying attention), "well Septon So-And-So annulled a marriage for a Prince Ragger (RHAEGAR) and performed a secret wedding ceremony to another woman in Dorne." Then Sam flips his steps, I mean shit, totally ignoring what Gilly just said.

So do you get it?

Who was Rhaegar Targaryan again? Well he was the son of the Mad King Aerys Targaryan and heir to the Iron Throne. His wife, Ellia Martell, was raped and murdered along with their 2 children during the seige of King's Landing during Robert's Rebellion! Rhaegar, before all that, met and fell in love with another woman.

Still don't know what I'm talking about? Well, who do you think that other woman was? It was head-losin Ned Stark's sister LYANNA STARK!!!!!! Remember last season when we found out who Jon's real parents are? Last night's revelation means that DAENARYS IS NOT THE HEIR TO THE IRON THRONE BUT JON SNOW IS!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

VAGARY #2 words and pics by Kevin Davis

Haven't read the FANTASTIC FIRST ISSUE YET? Check it out here first! http://superdupernerdynews.blogspot.com/2017/04/vagary-part-1-words-pictures-by-kevin.html

The Fate of the Furious - Movie Review

THIS MOVIE IS RIDICULOUS! But, if you are already a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise then you already know this. The absurdity level seems to get kicked up a notch with every new film in the series, as it should, but this one reaches new levels. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. No, I've come to really enjoy how absurd and ridiculous some of these action movies can be. For example, in the last installment Furious 7, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel steal a car from a prince in Abu Dhabi. To escape the bad guys, Vin Diesel drives the car out the window where it flies through the air, crashes into another building, lands and races through that building, flies out of the 2nd building, and finally crashes through a 3rd building where the car plummets to a final fiery crash. Of course both leading actors survive this.

So how do you top that? Well screenwriter Chris Morgan certainly has some crazy ideas knocking around his head! One of those crazy ideas involves hacking into cars that have an "auto driver" function. Then using these "zombie cars" (not my term) as a weapon for the bad guys in order for them to retrieve a suitcase containing launch codes for a cache of nuclear missiles from the Russian Minister of Defense, who just happens to be in New York City at the time. The entire premise is ridiculous, but is also an amazing amount of fun.  I found myself both laughing out loud and gasping in astonishment at what I was seeing.

The most absurd aspect of this movie, also with the last three, is that now these former street racers are all part of an elite strike force who specialize in fast cars. For the life of me I can think of a situation that

1. presents a problem involving an army of driverless cars
2. has a solution that involves MORE CARS!

The payoff for this scene is extraordinary. It's exactly what I love about these absurd action films. I go in not knowing what I'm about to see and walk out having seen something that I never in my life would imagine having wanted to see until I saw it.

Now, I do believe the producers of this film skipped over a unique opportunity. Why is this movie called The FATE of the Furious, when it clearly should have been titled The F8 of the Furious? It's the eighth movie of the franchise, but it does not sour the series at all. In fact, just like Fast Five did, F8 gave the franchise new life.

Without Paul Walker, the team was missing a major player, but his real life death was handled very well in Furious 7 as well as Fate of the Furious. Paul Walker, or Brian (his character's name), is mentioned a few times in the new movie and we learn that he's still alive but not involved in the team's hijinks anymore.

F8 spins the formula of the series a bit too. This time the Furious squad faces the one person they can't beat, Vin Diesel himself! Dominic Turretto (Vin Diesel) finds himself in between a rock and a hard place and must decide between his racing family and his real family. That's ok though, where one good guy flips to bad, a bad guy flips to good. Jason Statham returns as Deckard, the main antagonist of Furious 7, but this time the good guys reveal the motivation behind Deckhard's behavior. It turns out, he's not such a bad guy after all, just misunderstood.

All in all, this was a very fun blockbuster movie. If you're a fan of absurd action sequences, can get over the mediocre acting (not from The Rock, of course, I'll never say anything bad about The People's Champion), and ridiculous premise (it's a prerequisite for seeing these films that you throw any ideas of normalcy, or more simply, just the laws of physics in general out the window) then you are in for a treat.

Final Grade: B

World Without a Superman

This story only partially answers the question of what the Earth would be like without Superman. I say only partially answers, because besides a few panels featuring people from around the world, the story is set in Metropolis and doesn't go anywhere else.

What this story does capture, and capture very well, is the emotion surrounding the death of such a beloved person. It picks up right where the end of issue #75 leaves off. The battle between Superman and Doomsday is over, both combatants are dead and now people are trying to do their best to save Superman.

EMS shows up and attempts to use a defibrillator machine to resuscitate Superman, but fails even with the assistance of Dr. Emil Hamilton and Bibbowski aka Bibbo (friends of Superman) and a leftover LexCorp. Security Guard armed with energy blasting armor. Dr. Hamilton tries using a machine that collects energy and then channels it through paddles (like a much more powerful defibrillator machine). Again, it doesn't work. There's a line about how Superman's skin is too strong that needles will just break against it.

As a young reader, these things didn't faze me. Superman died in the issue before. He's dead now. That's it. Remember, I had no idea what I was in store for. There was an internet back then, but my friends and I didn't have computers that could access it and there certainly weren't any comic book news sites to check. Heck, I didn't even follow the Comic Book News that was given away at local comic shops! So, I was happy to follow along with the story line.

The first few issues of the story arch are mostly about Lois dealing with the loss of her fiancé, the Kents handling the death of their son while also watching the world deal with the loss of their greatest hero.  Also, we start to get clues that Lex Luthor Jr. isn't the good guy he's made everyone think he is. **Quick back story on LL Jr.: some time before Doomsday arrived, the public found out that Lex Luthor Sr. had "died" in a plane crash. Not long after that, it was announced that Luthor had a son raised secretly in Australia. We later find out that Lex Jr. is actually Lex Sr. in a cloned body. More on this in another post!** So Lex Jr. is in charge of Superman's funeral. He's arranged a parade that leads passed The Daily Planet to Centennial Park where he's had a statue erected as a memorial to Superman. Here's a pic of the statue:

Martha and Jonathon Kent don't bother trying to get to Metropolis for the funeral because of how crowded it will be. They're not wrong. The whole city turns out, along with an appearance by then President of the United States Bill Clinton along with First Lady Hilary.

As it turns out, with Superman dead, the criminals of Metropolis start coming out of the woodwork thinking the city is theirs for the taking. Before the funeral, Supergirl takes up the mantle of Metropolis' Champion, along with help from some C-List heroes like Gangbuster and The Guardian. Then the day of the funeral arrives and with it, other Super Heroes. The Justice League is back to full strength with the arrival of the core group we're all most familiar with: Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Nightwing, and Captain Marvel.

After the funeral, the heroes come together to figure out a way for them to honor Superman. They find sacks of fan mail filled with letters to Superman from people thanking him for all the good he's done for them, and some with requests for help. One of the letters is from the Mom of the high school kid and baby, who's house was destroyed while the JLA fought Doomsday. The JLA decides to help this woman by rebuilding her house and finding her son, who's gone missing. It turns out that her son, Mitch, after learning of Superman's sacrifice left home for Metropolis to find someone close to Superman and apologize for being a dickhead teenager. The letter also talks about how the father of these two kids left the family some time ago. Guy Gardner goes off on his own to track down the Dad. Soon enough they're all reunited and the JLA is able to complete their own memorial to Superman. It's a nice moment during a time of loss and sadness.

Now, I wouldn't be writing about this series if this is all that happened. Issue 5 of the series ends with a cliffhanger. It seems someone has STOLEN SUPERMAN'S BODY!!!! There's a bunch of suspects to and it's up to Lois Lane, Supergirl, and Inspector Dan "Terrible" Turpin with his partner Captain Maggie Sawyer of Metropolis PD to find it!

Remember Project Cadmus that I briefly mentioned in my post about THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN? Well, they took Superman! Over the next couple of issues, Lois and Captain Sawyer fight to get it back. All while we get a look at how the Kents are dealing with the loss of their son. Jonathon is not doing well. He doesn't sleep and Martha finds him mumbling to himself one night while digging up the spaceship that brought Clark to Earth. The Kents are overwhelmed. First they loose their son, then they find out that his body has been stolen. Jonathon is already not doing well, because of a heart condition and now Martha finds him at the spot where the spaceship crashed. He says, "This is where the rocket brought him to Earth. He seemed so helpless then. I swore I'd protect him... I'd keep him safe. But I couldn't. I... just keep thinking how he said-- 'They all want a piece of me--UHFF" and he collapses. Martha gathers him into her arms screaming, "Oh Jonathon! Not you too!"

Jonathon's condition ends one issue and leads up right into the finale of this series. Lois, with some help from some weirdos on ATVs and Supergirl, are able to rescue Superman's body from Cadmus. But Jonathon is clinging to life back in Smallville. While doctors are doing their best to bring Jonathon back, he suddenly opens his eyes says, "CLARK!" and then his eyes close as his heart monitor gives off the long sustained beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

So what happens to Jonathon Kent? Is he dead now too? Did he see a vision of Clark before he died? Now that Superman's body is back, is that the end of the story?

HELL NO! Come back next week to see how all of this wraps up and then launches us into the RETURN OF SUPERMAN story. I know, the title spoils it, but hey we get to talk about one of the more memorable times of my early comic collecting life and the sub story of Superman's return with THE REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN!

Have a great weekend!

VAGARY Part 1 words & pictures by Kevin Davis

A Closer Look at THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN Part 2: THE FIGHT!!!

This is it! The battle of the century! Unfortunately because of the title the book, we all know how it ends. Well, if you couldn't decipher the ending from THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN then I'm going to spoil it for you. Superman totally dies. But it's HOW he dies that's interesting, right?!

Doomsday has been making his way towards Metropolis, despite Superman's and the Army's best efforts to stop him. Behind him lays a path of death and destruction. The Justice League has been run over, with most of the members being brought in for medical attention. It's come down to Superman.

Supergirl (the girlfriend of Lex Luthor Jr. at the time), attempts to help Superman, but one punch from Doomsday reduces Supergirl to a protoplasmic mess. Supergirl's origin says she was actually created by the Lex Luthor of Krypton and wasn't actually a person, but a being grown in a test tube that could do incredible things including shape shift).

Just check out some of the brutal shots these two Goliaths exchange:

Readers were seeing Superman take a beating like never before. Not only was he bleeding but he is visibly bruised and weakening with each punch. And Doomsday shows NO SIGN of tiring!

Then Superman takes a piledriver from Doomsday and is temporarily put down. Doomsday turns his attention to Lois Lane who is standing nearby with Jimmy Olsen, both covering the story for the Daily Planet. Lois and Superman are also secretly engaged and Lois can't bring herself to be away from Superman while he's fighting for his life as well as the lives of everyone around him. If Superman can't stop Doomsday, then who can?

But Superman is not letting Doomsday step over him and harm his woman! He recovers a bit and delivers a devastating kidney punch!

He follows this up with a tremendous blast of heat vision!

I love the detail of Superman stepping on his battle-torn cape that's fallen off from the fight. This panel also shows Superman using up a lot of his reserve energy in order to keep Lois safe. Superman is saving people left and right, all while fighting Doomsday. Why can't Lois keep back a bit?

She does prove to give Superman a second wind though. As they're able to share one last romantic moment, which hulks up Superman and gives him a new found energy!

I remember reading this for the first time, and feeling like this was coming to a head. Not just because I could tell how many pages I had left, but the fight itself was building to something. At one point, Superman and Doomsday and fighting just outside the Daily Planet and Superman says to himself that "this is the line. I stop you here or die." They're hitting each other so hard, the windows of the building are shattering from the shockwave of their punches.

Then, they're both rear back with all they have left.

And land the final blow that ends both of their lives.

They both fall, in what must feel like slow motion. Lois rushes to Superman, cradling his head in her arms. He struggles to breath, but is able to weakly ask, "Did I do it? Did I stop him?" To which Lois replies, "Yes, you did it. You saved us all." And with that, the greatest hero the world has ever seen succumbs to his wounds and breathes his last, his head falling back as Lois explodes in sobs and tears.

What an issue! So many feels! Writers did a fantastic job capturing the raw emotion, and keeping the action grounded pretty well. I felt as if this was a very realistic way for Superman to die. He would go out making sure that everyone was safe. What do you think?

Next up: what happens to the world without it's Superman? I'll talk about it next week in the follow up story to Superman's Death. WORLD WITHOUT SUPERMAN/FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!