Comic Book Conversations

Article by Gregg Katzman; photo by Kevin Mazur Director Zack Snyder gets a lot of hate online – I think that’s putting it pretty lightly, too. His recent work with DC’s iconic and beloved characters – Man of Steel , Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , (some of) Justice League – was divisive among fans and received mostly negative reviews from critics. Look, it’s totally cool if you’re not a fan of those projects – I don’t agree with you, but I do get it. There are still a ton of debates going on in the fan community and among critics about Snyder’s take on the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, but sometimes the especially harsh comments appear to be directed at Zack Snyder himself instead of his work. Constructive criticism about his movies is one thing, but why make it personal and cruel, especially when Snyder appears to be a legitimately kind and respectable guy? When did we start caring about fictional characters and films more than actual people? I’m baffled by the p...

Just like so many other people out there, I adored several animated shows back when I was a kid (and still do). I was born in 1985, so I was lucky enough to grow up with iconic shows like X-Men The Animated Series, Batman The Animated Series, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show, The Real Ghostbusters, Spider-Man The Animated Series, and several others. These animated adventures brought me so much joy and made me fall in love with these franchises. They encouraged me to go watch the Batman and Ninja Turtles live-action movies, and eventually, they motivated me to start reading the comics. I was hooked at an early age. Now, whenever I hear any of the classic theme songs or see a picture of these older shows, I feel nothing but pure happiness – these shows gave me so many good memories. I’m 32 years-old and proud to say that my ringtone is the classic and epic X-Men theme song. It’s totally playing in your head now, isn’t it? It’s so catchy. You can also hear this GIF, rig...

Back in 2007, the very first DC Universe Animated Original Movie was released: Superman Doomsday . With a runtime of just 75 minutes, the team behind the action-packed animated film had to make some creative changes to the adaptation of the classic Death and Return of Superman storyline, which is totally understandable. Now, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC Entertainment are revisiting the iconic tale and they’re giving the story two animated films: The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen (2019). This is also how the excellent adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns was handled. Hopefully, this means more two-parters are on the horizon. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a Knightfall or Sinestro Corps War two-parter. Anyway, these upcoming movies will take place in the universe that was formed back in 2014’s Justice League: War , so it obviously won’t be a 100% faithful adaptation. Still, two films about the death of Superman and the aftermath of such a loss has a lot ...

Review by Gregg Katzman When many people think of Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, they think he’s basically just a joke character. Lots of fans think he’s just a loudmouth who loves to crack topical jokes while enduring a barrage of bullets and slicing his enemies to pieces, and that’s totally understandable since there are quite a few comics and media appearances that use the Merc with a Mouth for just comedic relief and action scenes. But there’s more to Deadpool than just jokes and violence. The best Deadpool stories always go beyond the comedy and fighting to take a good look at the man behind the mask; the man who uses humor to hide his emotions. Deadpool is a man that can’t seem to obtain true happiness – no matter how hard he tries, it always seems to be just out of reach. Deep down, he thinks he may not deserve real happiness, either. He may not be a traditional hero and always do the right thing, but he always has the potential to rise above and do what needs to be done to s...

You saw the title, right? Cool, that means you know this article obviously contains Avengers: Infinity War spoilers. It also has a big Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 spoiler. Can’t say I didn’t warn you! Written by Gregg Katzman There’s a lot to love about Avengers: Infinity War . I could go on and on about the things I enjoyed, like the heart to heart conversation between Rocket Raccoon and Thor, or how Thanos totally lived up to the hype. There’s plenty of good stuff to discuss, but one common criticism caught me by surprise. I’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War twice, and neither time was I bothered by Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, ruining the plan to take off Thanos’ gauntlet on Titan.   It’s easy to judge a character’s actions when we’re emotionally disconnected from them and viewing the experience as an outsider. It’s easy to say “that was so dumb, he should’ve done this or that instead.” But let’s look at the context and try to really feel what Peter was going through. ...